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Ube  TUnipecsiig  of  Cbicago 

POUNDBD  BY  JOHN  D.  HOCKBPEI.LER 

STUDIES    IN    POLITICAL   bv. 


Municipal  Administration 

IN 

GERMANY 


EN  IN  THE  GOVERNMENT  OT  A    i-.! k    \ 
PRUSSIAN  CITY,  HALLE  a/S. 


BY 

EDMUND  J.  JAMES,   In. I) 


CHICAGO 

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^be  mnlpersits  of  dbicaao 

FOUNDED   BY  JOHN  D.  ROCKEFELLER 

STUDIES    IN    POLITICAL   SCIENCE 


Municipal  Administration 

IN 

GERMANY 


AS  SEEN  IN  THE  GOVERNMENT  OF  A  TYPICAL 
PRUSSIAN  CITY,  HALLE  a/s. 


BY 

EDMUND  J.  JAMES,  Ph.D. 

Professor  in  the  University  of  Chicago 


CHICAGO 

^be  Tnnlpereltg  ot  Cblcago  iprese 

iqoi 


vV-'  A,'*!^ 


BY  THE  SAME  AUTHOR 

RELATION  OF  THE  MODERN  MUNICIPALITY  TO  THE  GAS 
SUPPLY.     American  Economic  Association,  1886. 

THE  CITY  GOVERNMENT  OF  PHILADELPHIA.    Philadelphia,  1893. 

THE  CHARTERS  OF  THE  CITY  OF  CHICAGO.  Part  I.  The 
Early  Charters.  Chicago,  i8g8.  Part  II,  The  City  Char- 
ters, 1838-185 1.     Chicago,  i8gg. 

THE  GROWTH  OF  GREAT  CITIES  IN  AREA  AND  POPULA- 
TION. American  Academy  of  Political  and  Social  Science.  Phila- 
delphia, i8gg. 

THE  CITY  COUNCIL  OF  BERLIN.  American  Journal  of  Sociology, 
November,  igoo. 

....    J«E  PARIS  UNDERGROUND  RAILWAY— LE  METROPOLITAIN. 
•   V*   i  >*  J  •    •         Peport  of  Street  Railway  Commission.     Chicago,  i goo. 

\^':  •:  :      is.'TKEET    RAILWAY    FRANCHISES    IN    THE   CITY   OF   BERLIN. 
Journal  of  Political  Economy,  March,  igoi. 

THE  STREET  RAILWAY  SITUATION  IN  CHICAGO.     Chicago,  igoi. 

MUNICIPAL  OWNERSHIP  OF  QUASI-PUBLIC  UTILITIES.  Ad- 
dress before  the  Merchants'  Club  of  Chicago,     Chicago,  igoi. 

CITY  ADMINISTRATION  IN  GERMANY.  American  Journal  of  Soci- 
ology, July,  igoi.  ^ 


fo 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  I. 
ORGANIZATION  OF  THE  CITY  GOVERNMENT. 

History,  location,  and  importance  of  Halle  a/S.  -         -         -         .  i 

"  Magistrat,"  or  Administrative  Board.        -         -         -         -  1 1 

Constitution            -         -          -         -         -          -         -         -          -  12 

Character  of  members    -         -         -         -         -         -         -         -  13 

Functions       -  -  -  -         -  -         -         -         -         -14 

Relation  to  higher  authorities          -          -          -         -          -         -  15 

Relation  to  city  council            -         -         -         -         -         -         -  16 

Collegiate  character        -         -         -         -         -         -         -         -  17 

Powers  of  mayor    -          -          -          -         -          -         -         -         -  19 

Police  function  —  city  committee     -         -         -         -         -         -  22 

City  Council  - 24 

Constitution  —  number  of  members          -         -         -         -         -  24 

Method  of  election  —  three-class  system            -         -         -         -  25 

Control  of  council  by  large  taxpayers       -         -         -         -         -  26 

Functions       ----.-.-..  27 

Relation  to  administrative  board     ------  28 

Procedure       ----------  29 

Deputations,  Commissions,  and  Subordinate  Boards       -         -  31 

School  deputation  or  board  —  constitution  —  functions         -         -  32 

City  school  inspector  --------  35 

Method  of  appointing  teachers    -         -          -         -         -         -  36 

Religious  qualifications  for  teachers     -         -         -         -         -  38 

Poor-law  board — constitution  —  functions        -         -         -         -  39 

Local  poor  districts     -          -         -          -          -         -         -         -  41 

Method  of  relief          --...-..  42 

Trust  funds  of  city       .         -          - 43 

Gas  and  water  board — constitution  —  functions        -         -         -  44 

City  Civil  Service           -         . 47 

Method  of  selection — term  of  office  —  pensions        -         -         -  48 

General  Critique  of  the  City  Government         -         -         -  49 

3 


240787 


4  MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION  IN  GERMANY 

CHAPTER  II. 
GAS  AND  ELECTRICITY. 

Regeneration  of  German  City      ------  52 

Water  supply  —  public  agency         ------  52 

Gas  supply  —  public  agency    -------  53 

Socialization  of  public  services  —  water,  gas,  electricity     -         -  54 

Tendency  to  public  ownership  in  Germany      -         -         -         -  57 

Establishment  of  Gas-Works  in  Halle        -         -         -         -  58 

Statistics  —  financial  accounts           ------  59 

Tariff  of  charges     -         -         -         -         -         -         -         -         -  61 

Methods  of  bookkeeping         -------  5^ 

Results  of  Municipal  Operation            -         -         -         -         -  66 

Financial        ----------  gy 

Social  and  industrial       -»•------  68 

Supply  of  power     ---------  68 

The  City  Electric  Plant      -------  70 

General  demand  for  increased  supply  of  electricity  -         -         -  7^ 

Investigation  into  expediency  of  city  ownership        -         -         -  72 

Decision  of  city  to  erect  a  city  plant        -         -         -         -         -  73 

Relation  of  this  question  to  public  ownership  of  street-railway 

system    -         -         -         -         -         -         --         -         -74 

CHAPTER  III. 
THE  WATER  SUPPLY. 

Modern  Conception  as  to  Importance  of  Water  Supply     -  76 

History  of  Water  Supply  in  Halle  a/S.      -         -         -         -  77 

Erection  of  first  water-works  in  1494       -         -         -         -         -  77 

Condition  of  water  supply,  quality  of  water      -         -         -         -  78 

Health  conditions  in  the  city           ------  79 

Agitation  for  improvement.     Water  commission  of  1864           -  80 

Report  of  commission — recommendations       -         -         -         -  81 

Municipal  ownership       --------  81 

Introduction  of  new  supply  —  increase  in  consumption     -         -  83 

History  of  Water-Rates 84 

For  domestic  uses  —  free          -------  85 

Tariff  of  1886  — of  1895— of  1897 86 


CONTENTS 


Reasons  for  Moderate  Use  of  Water  -         .         .         -     87 

Few  water-closets;  none  connected  directly  with  the  sewer 
Few  bath  connections  in  private  houses  -         -         .         . 

Financial  Management  of  the  Water-Works 

Conservative  — sound  method  of  bookkeeping  -         .         .     Z 

Careful  administration    ---.... 


APPENDIX. 
NOTE  ON  THE  CITY  CEMETERIES. 
Relation  of  the  city  to  the  question  of  cemeteries 
European  cities  in  general  consider  it  a  city  function  to  assure  to 
the  citizen  the  possibility  of  a  decent  burial  at  a  reasonable 

price  to  his  family 

System  adopted  in  Halle    - 

Charges  based  on  income  of  family 

Financial  management  of  cemeteries 


88 
88 
89 


90 


91 


91 
92 

93 
93 


INTRODUCTION. 

The  present  monograph  contains  a  brief  account  of  municipal 
organization  and  administration  in  Germany  as  seen  in  the  actual 
government  of  a  typical  Prussian  city.  The  limits  of  space  set 
by  the  publisher  prevented  a  full  discussion  of  any  of  the  sub- 
jects treated  in  the  book.  But  it  is  hoped  that  even  this  brief 
presentation  may  contribute  to  a  clearer  understanding  of  actual 
conditions  prevailing  in  German  cities.  The  thanks  of  the 
author  are  due  to  the  members  of  the  city  administration  of 
Halle  a/S.  for  their  unfailing  courtesy  in  answering  what  must 
often  have  seemed  to  them  tiresome  questions.  Special  obliga- 
tion is  also  acknowledged  to  the  members  of  the  Magistrate  and 
more  particularly  to  the  accomplished  and  obliging  head  mayor 
of  the  city,  the  Honorable  Mr.  Staude. 


CHAPTER  I. 

Organization  of  the  City  Government. 

The  city  of  Halle,  called  usually  Halle-on-the-Saale,  to  dis- 
tinguish it  from  other  cities  of  the  same  name  in  Germany,  is 
situated  near  the  head  of  navigation  on  the  river  Saale,  twenty 
miles  northwest  of  Leipsic  and  one  hundred  miles  southwest  of 
Berlin.  It  is  one  of  the  most  ancient  cities  of  northern  Ger- 
many, having  a  history  based  on  written  records  running  back 
nearly  eight  hundred  years,  at  which  time  it  was  already  a  city 
of  considerable  size.  It  is  first  mentioned  as  a  city  in  the  year 
1024,  but  was  included  in  a  grant  of  land  made  by  Otho  the 
First  in  the  year  961,  and  was  possibly  the  Burg  Halla,  which 
name  appears  in  old  documents  from  806  on.  It  had  become 
the  second  city  in  the  archbishopric  of  Magdeburg  as  early  as 
the  first  part  of  the  twelfth  century,  and  grew  rapidly  in  industry 
and  power  until  it  was  important  enough  to  be  accepted  as  a 
member  of  the  Hanseatic  League  at  least  as  early  as  1281. 
From  that  time  on  it  has  been  an  important  city  in  that  portion 
of  Germany  in  which  it  is  situated,  though  long  since  surpassed 
in  wealth  and  population  by  its  near  neighbor  and  former  rival  — 
Leipsic' 

Since  the  latter  part  of  the  forties  it  has  grown  steadily,  and 
at  times  rapidly,  becoming  of  late  a  great  railroad  and  industrial 
center.  The  population,  which  was  about  30,000  in  round  num- 
bers in  1850,  had  become  42,000  in  i860,  51,000  in  1870,  71,000 

•  Cf.  Die  Stadt  Halle  nach  amtlichen  Quellen  hislorisch,  topographisch,  statistisch 
dargestelU,  von  C.  H.  Freiherrn  vom  Hagen.  Zwei  Bande,  Halle,  1867  ;  und  drei 
Erganzungshefte,  Halle,  1868-72.  This  work  is,  in  a  certain  sense,  a  continuation  of 
the  Beschreibung  des  Saalkreises  und der  Stddte Halle,  etc.,  von  J.  Chr.  VON  Dkeyhaupt. 
Zwei  Folianten,  1749-50,  revised  and  continued  by  Professor  Stiebritz  in  two 
volumes,  1772-73.  It  is  a  mine  of  information,  relating  not  merely  to  Halle,  but  also 
to  the  general  system  of  administration  of  the  time.  Referred  to  subsequently  as 
VOM  Hagen, 

9 


10  MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION  IN  GERMANY 

in  1880,  and  101,000  in  1890.'  The  last  census,  of  December, 
1900,  showed  a  population  of  155,000,  including  the  suburbs 
annexed  April  i,  1900.  It  is,  therefore,  a  rapidly  growing 
middle-sized  city,  in  the  way  of  becoming  a  great  city  before 
many  decades. 

It  may  fairly  enough  be  taken  as  a  type  of  the  modern, 
rapidly  developing  German  city  of  medium  size.  Its  financial, 
governmental,  economic,  social,  sanitary,  and  educational  prob- 
lems have  been  those  of  an  old  city,  with  a  style  of  building, 
habits  of  life,  and  standards  of  public  comfort  characteristic  of 
the  eighteenth  century,  which  has  suddenly  had  to  face  all  the 
embarrassments  growing  out  of  a  rapidly  increasing  population, 
with  an  ever  more  imperative  demand  for  all  the  modern 
improvements  of  city  life. 

It  has  had  to  adjust  itself  to  the  new  conditions  under  a  form 
of  government  which  was  established  in  its  outlines  in  the  early 
part  of  this  century,  at  the  time  of  the  Stein  and  Hardenberg 
reforms  —  somewhat  modified  about  1830,  and  again  in  1853, 
but  since  that  time  remaining  practically  unchanged. 

It  would  be  difificult  to  find  an  American  city  growing  from 
30,000  in  1850  to  150,000  in  1900,  which  has  not  changed  its 
form  of  government  a  half-dozen  times.  It  will  be  of  interest, 
therefore,  to  examine  this  scheme  of  governmental  organiza- 
tion, which,  adopted  for  a  small  city,  belonging  essentially  to 
the  last  century,  has  been  found  satisfactory  for  a  modern  city 
of  the  highest  type. 

The  city  of  Halle  forms  an  independent  circle  —  the  ultimate 
unit  in  the  scheme  of  administrative  organization  of  the  Prussian 
state.  It  is  a  part  of  the  government  district  of  Mcrseburg, 
which  itself  is  a  subdivision  of  the  province  of  Saxony  —  one 
of  the  twelve  great  divisions  of  Prussia.  The  city  authorities 
are  subject  in  many  respects  to  the  supervision  of  the  higher 

'  Cf.  Die  Stadt  Halle  im  Jahre  i8qi.  Festschrift  fiir  die  Mitglieder  und  Theil- 
nehmer  der  64.  Versammlung  der  Gesellschaft  deutscher  Naturforscher  und  Aerzte. 
Herausgegeben  im  Auftrage  der  stadtischen  Behbrden  von  Stai;de,  Oberburger- 
MEisTER,  Dr.  HiJLi.MANN  UND  Dr.  Freiherrn  VON  Fritsch.  Halle  a/S.,  1891. 
Referred  to  subsequently  as  Festschrift. 


ORGANIZATION  OF  THE  CITY  GOVERNMENT  II 

administrative  officials  of  the  government  district,  of  the  prov- 
ince, and  of  the  state. 

The  area  of  the  city  circle  is  9.6  square  miles  ;'  the  popula- 
tion at  the  end  of  October,  1899,  129,510.  The  area  of  the 
government  district  of  Merseburg  is  3,980  square  miles,  the 
population  1,075,569.  The  area  of  the  province  of  Saxony  is 
9,750  square  miles.  The  population  in  1895  was  2,698,549  — 
not  differing  much  in  area  and  population  from  that  of  Massa- 
chusetts and  Rhode  Island  combined  (9,135  square  miles; 
2,604,000  [1890]). 

The  city  authorities  in  Prussia,  like  those  in  our  own  country, 
are  not  merely  organs  of  local  self-government,  but  are  also  the 
local  agents  for  the  performance  of  many  general  functions 
imposed  upon  them  by  the  district,  province,  state,  and  even  the 
imperial  governments.  It  is  impossible  to  comprehend  the  func- 
tions of  the  city  authorities,  and  the  relations  of  one  department 
in  municipal  administration  to  another,  without  keeping  this  fact 
in  mind. 

The  city  authorities  may  be  classified  as  the  Magistrate  or 
administrative  board,  the  city  committee,  the  city  council,  the 
city  civil  service,  and  the  deputations  or  joint  committees. 

The  most  striking  and  peculiar  feature  of  city  government 
in  Prussia  is  the  so-called  Magistrat,  a  term  which  may  be  trans- 
lated as  the  magistracy,  the  board  of  magistrates,  or  board  of 
aldermen,  or,  with  reference  to  its  most  important  function,  the 
executive  or  administrative  board.  The  last-mentioned  term, 
namely,  administrative  board,  will  be  used  to  describe  this  body 
in  the  present  work. 

'April  I,  1900,  the  area  and  population  of  the  city  were  materially  increased  by 
the  annexation  of  three  suburbs,  enlarging  the  area  to  15.6  square  miles,  and  adding 
23,134  souls  to  the  population,  making  a  total  of  152,644,  as  ascertained  by  tlie  police 
census.  As  the  details  of  this  union  have  not  been  worked  out  in  the  published 
reports  of  the  city,  the  data  of  this  work  refer  to  the  old  city,  except  where  the  con- 
trary is  stated. 

Cf.  Berichte  iiber  den  Stand  und  die  Verwaltung  der  Gemeinde-Angelegetiheilen 
der  Stadt  Halle  afS.fiir  iSqq-igoo.  These  reports  on  the  administration  of  the  city 
have  appeared  annually  since  1881-82,  and  two  volumes  appeared  before  that  cover- 
ing the  period  1870-81,  thus  connecting  with  the  vom  Hagen  work.  Referred  to 
subsequently  as  "  Administrative  Reports." 


la  MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION  IN  GERMANY 

The  administrative  board  of  the  city  of  Halle  consists  regu- 
larly of  seventeen  members,  including  the  mayor,  who  is  the 
presiding  officer  and  director  of  the  board.  Eight  of  these  arc 
salaried  members  and  nine  unsalaried.  The  eight  salaried  mem- 
bers are  chosen  for  a  term  of  twelve  years ;  the  nine  unsalaried 
members  are  chosen  for  a  term  of  six  years  —  all  of  them  by  the 
city  council.  The  board  is  collegiate  in  character,  and  can  act 
only  by  a  majority  vote,  though  in  cases  of  urgency  the  mayor 
may  act  for  it,  being  required,  however,  to  report  his  action 
immediately  to  the  board  for  its  consideration  and  action.  One- 
third  of  the  members  constitute  a  quorum  for  the  transaction 
of  business.  The  fact  that  certain  members  of  the  board  are 
expected  to  give  all  their  time  to  the  work  of  the  board  and 
that  others  are  expected  to  give  only  a  portion  of  their  time  is 
reflected  in  the  fact  that  some  of  the  members  are  salaried  and 
some  are  not.  Any  citizen  of  the  town  may  be  chosen  to  the 
position  of  unsalaried  member,  though  he  cannot  be  a  member 
of  the  city  council  at  the  same  time.  It  is  an  honorary  office, 
and  persons  chosen  must  perform  the  duties  of  the  same  unless 
excused  for  some  good  reason  by  the  city  council,  under  the 
penalty  of  a  very  considerable  increase  in  their  tax-rate.  One- 
third  of  the  unsalaried  members  retire  from  the  board  every 
two  years.  The  retiring  members  are  re-eligible  indefinitely. 
The  most  important  departments  of  public  administration  are 
divided  among  the  salaried  members,  who  are  expected  to 
devote  all  their  time  to  the  work  of  their  offices.  These  mem- 
bers are  chosen  generally  without  any  specific  assignment  of 
functions,  and  might  be  described  as  members  without  a  port- 
folio. It  is  the  duty  of  the  mayor  to  divide  up  the  public  busi- 
ness among  the  members  of  the  administrative  board  in  what 
seems  to  him  the  most  efficient  and  satisfactory  manner. 

Two  salaried  members  of  the  administrative  board  have  been 
chosen,  however,  in  Halle  with  special  reference  to  particular 
departments.  One  of  these,  called  the  school  inspector,  is  the 
official  adviser  of  the  administrative  board  upon  school  matters. 
Another,  called   the   city  architect   or   engineer,   is   the   official 


ORGANIZATION  OF  THE  CITY  GOVERNMENT  1 3 

adviser  of  the  board  upon  all  matters  relating  to  building,  to  the 
public  works,  etc.  The  former  is  a  trained  school  man,  and  the 
latter  a  trained  engineer  —  a  graduate  of  a  school  of  technology. 
There  are  no  restrictions  upon  the  city  council  in  its  choice  of 
members  of  the  administrative  board,  except  that  at  least  one  of 
these  members  shall  have  the  qualifications  required  of  men  who 
desire  to  pursue  the  judicial  or  higher  administrative  career.' 
Such  member,  if  the  only  one  possessing  these  qualifications,  would 
become  naturally  the  legal  adviser  of  the  board  or  the  city 
attorney.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  however,  the  tendency  is  very 
steadily  toward  requiring  as  a  qualification  for  election  to  salaried 
membership  in  the  board  the  completion  of  the  full  course  of 
legal  study  and  practice  required  for  the  admission  to  the  bar  or 
to  the  judicial  career.  Thus,  not  counting  the  school  inspector 
and  the  city  engineer,  all  the  salaried  members  of  the  board  in 
Halle,  with  one  exception,  possessed  such  qualifications  before 
they  were  elected  to  their  present  positions. 

As  a  rule,  men  are  chosen  to  the  position  of  salaried  mem- 
bers of  the  board  who  have  had  experience  in  the  service  of 
other  cities.  This  class  of  positions  has  become,  therefore,  in  a 
certain  sense  a  career.  A  city  desiring  a  mayor  looks  about 
among  the  successful  mayors  of  other  cities  and  seeks  to  get  the 
best  man  it  can  find  for  the  salary  it  can  pay,  and  so  for  the  other 
salaried  positions  on  the  board.^  The  present  salaried  members 
of  the  board  in  Halle  have  all  been  called  from  similar  positions 
in  other  cities.     The  choice  of  all  members  of  the  administrative 

'  Cf.  Die  Stddteverordnung  fiir  die  seeks  bstlichen  Provinzen  der  preussischen 
Monarchievom  30.  Mai  1833.  Mit  Erganzungen  und  Eriauterungen  von  O.  Oertel, 
Oberbiirgermeister  in  Liegnitz.  Zweite  Auflage.  Liegnitz:  Verlag  von  A.  Krumb- 
haar,  1893.     Referred  to  subsequently  as  Oertel. 

'The  following  advertisement,  which   is  typical,  appeared   in   a  Cologne  paper 

recently:    "As  the  undersigned  will  be  retired   under  the  pension  law  on  the  4th  of 

October,  1900,  the  position  of  mayor  of  the   city  of  Gladbach  will    thereby  become 

vacant.     Candidates  who  have   passed  the  state  examinations  for  the  higher  judicial 

or  administrative  career,  and  who  have   had  experience   in  the  administration  of  a 

large  city,  are  requested  to  send   in  their  applications  by  the  loth  of  March.     The 

salary  is    10,000   marks,  with  right  to  a    pension,  and   1,500  marks    additional    for 

expenses. 

(Signed.)  "Head  Mayor  of  Gladbach." 


14  MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION  IN  GERMANY 

board  must  be  approved  by  the  higher  administrative  authorities. 
The  approval  of  the  king  must  be  obtained  for  the  choice  of 
mayor  and  assistant  mayor,  or  head  mayor  and  mayor,  as  the  two 
officials  are  called  in  the  city  of  Halle.  The  choice  of  the  other 
members  must  be  approved  by  the  president  of  the  government 
district  in  which  the  city  is  situated. 

The  administrative  board,  although  defined  primarily  to  be  an 
executive  and  administrative  authority,  has  not  only  the  super- 
vision, control,  and  conduct  of  the  entire  city  administration,  but 
shares  also  in  the  local  legislative  authority,  since  all  resolutions 
of  the  city  council,  with  comparatively  few  exceptions,  relating  to 
its  own  constitution,  the  passing  upon  the  election  of  its  own 
members,  etc.,  must  receive  the  approval  of  the  administrative 
board  before  they  can  have  the  effect  of  local  ordinances.  The 
administrative  board  is  authorized  to  make  recommendations  to 
the  city  council  upon  all  subjects  relating  to  city  legislation  and 
administration.  It  prepares  and  submits  the  business  to  be 
transacted  to  the  city  council,  and  while  it  does  not  always  sub- 
mit it  in  the  form  of  a  definite  resolution,  still,  as  this  is  the  most 
convenient  and  speedy  method  of  transacting  the  business,  it  is  a 
form  quite  commonly  adopted.  Its  relation  toward  the  city  coun- 
cil resembles  in  some  respects  the  relation  of  an  English  cabinet 
toward  the  House  of  Commons,  or,  perhaps  better,  the  relation 
of  the  executive  board  in  Switzerland  to  the  legislative  branch. 

As  will  be  seen  later,  while  the  city  council  has  also  the  right 
to  initiate  legislation,  as  a  matter  of  fact  nearly  all  legislation  is 
initiated  in  the  administrative  board,  and,  even  when  the  city 
council  desires  to  pass  an  ordinance  upon  any  given  subject,  the 
form  of  action  usually  consists  in  a  request  to  the  administrative 
board  to  submit  an  ordinance  to  the  city  council,  relating  to  the 
subject  in  hand  and  embodying  the  ideas  of  the  council.  The 
double  character  of  the  administrative  board,  as  a  body  which 
prepares  legislation  for  submission  to  the  city  council  and  as  a 
co-ordinate  branch  of  the  legislative  authority  itself,  is  revealed 
in  the  ordinary  process  of  passing  an  ordinance.  The  adminis- 
trative board,  having  decided   that   an   ordinance   is   necessary, 


ORGANIZATION  OF  THE  CITY  GOVERNMENT  15 

drafts  the  same  and  submits  it  to  the  city  council,  with  a  recom- 
mendation that  it  be  passed.  Even  when  accepted  by  the  city 
council  without  change,  it  must  still  receive  the  formal  consent 
of  the  administrative  board  before  it  can  go  into  effect. 

The  peculiar  relation  of  the  city  to  the  higher  adminis- 
trative authorities  is  shown  by  the  possibility  of  appeal  by  either 
the  administrative  board  or  the  city  council  to  the  higher 
authorities,  in  case  these  two  bodies  cannot  agree  as  to  the 
desirability  of  proposed  legislation.  If,  for  instance,  the  city 
council  regards  an  ordinance  of  a  certain  kind  as  very  necessary, 
passes  the  same,  and  sends  it  to  the  administrative  board,  which, 
however,  refuses  its  consent,  the  ordinary  result  would  be  that 
such  ordinance  could  not  be  enacted,  and  the  condition  would 
remain  in  statu  quo  until  the  two  bodies  could  agree  upon  an 
ordinance.  But  in  Prussia  the  city  council  may  appeal  in  such 
a  case  to  the  government  district  authorities.  If,  in  the  opinion 
of  the  latter,  it  is  not  a  pressing  matter,  and  may  therefore  be 
left  to  ultimate  settlement  by  the  ordinary  method  of  agree- 
ment between  the  two  bodies,  resulting  in  inaction  until  such 
agreement  can  be  reached,  it  is  the  duty  of  these  authorities  to 
refuse  to  interfere;  but  if,  on  the  contrary,  it  should  take  the 
same  view  as  the  city  council,  viz.,  that  this  is  a  subject  calling 
for  action,  and  calling  for  action  of  the  kind  indicated  by  the 
city  council,  it  may  approve  the  resolution  of  the  council,  there- 
by making  it  an  ordinance,  binding  the  administrative  board. 
The  administrative  board  may  in  the  same  way  prepare  a  resolu- 
tion, and  if  it  is  not  accepted  by  the  city  council,  the  board 
may  appeal  to  the  district  authorities  in  the  same  way  as  the 
council  may  appeal,  the  process  being  exactly  similar  in  both 
cases.  In  a  word,  it  will  be  seen  that  for  certain  pressing  mat- 
ters, or  at  least  for  matters  which  one  or  the  other  of  the  local 
legislative  bodies  regards  as  very  pressing,  it  is  possible  to  sub- 
stitute for  the  consent  of  either  the  consent  of  the  higher 
administrative  authorities  of  the  district. 

It  is  fair  to  say,  however,  that  statistics  show  that  little  or  no 
use  is  ever  made  of  this  privilege.     In  the  city  of  Halle  during 


1 6  MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION  IN  GERMANY 

eighteen  years  only  one  such  instance  has  occurred.  In  that 
case  the  question  turned  upon  the  method  of  raising  a  certain 
sum  of  money  required  for  city  purposes,  either  by  a  tax  upon 
house-owners  or  a  tax  upon  house-occupiers.  The  city  coun- 
cil, made  up  for  the  most  part  of  house-owners,  insisted  upon 
raising  the  money  by  a  tax  on  house-occupiers.  The  adminis- 
trative board  considered  that  under  the  circumstances  this  was 
an  unfair  burdening  of  house-occupiers  and  an  unfair  lightening 
of  the  burdens  of  house-owners.  The  district  authorities  agreed 
with  the  administrative  board,  and  the  city  council  was  compelled 
to  accept  the  proposition  of  the  administrative  board  as  to  the 
method  of  raising  these  taxes. 

It  might  seem  on  the  face  of  it  as  if  the  fact  that  the  admin- 
istrative board  is  chosen  by  the  city  council  would  make  the 
former  a  mere  agent  or  instrument  of  the  latter.  But,  in  the 
first  place,  the  long  term  of  ofifice  of  the  salaried  members  and 
the  high  character  of  the  unsalaried  members  give  them  a  far 
greater  degree  of  independence  than  one  might  believe  possible 
on  a  priori  grounds.  In  the  second  place,  there  is  a  very  impor- 
tant pressure  brought  to  bear  upon  the  city  council  to  re-elect 
the  salaried  members  of  the  administrative  board,  upon  the 
expiration  of  their  terms  of  office,  even  if  they  do  not  altogether 
like  them,  by  the  fact  that  the  city  is  required  to  pay  a  pension 
to  the  salaried  members  of  the  administrative  board  who  are  not 
rechosen  at  the  expiration  of  their  term  of  office.  This  pension 
is  equal  to  one-half  of  the  total  salary  at  the  end  of  the  first 
twelve-year  period,  and  seven-tenths  of  the  salary  at  the  end  of 
the  second  twelve-year  period.'  This  practically  makes  the 
position  of  salaried  members  of  the  administrative  board  a  posi- 
tion during  good  behavior,  unless  the  person  is  retired  on  account 
of  physical  or  other  inability  to  perform  the  duties  of  the  office, 
in  which  case  he  is  also  entitled  to  a  pension,  varying  according 
to  the  years  actually  served,  reaching  a  maximum  of  three-fourths 
of  the  salary  at  date  of  retirement. 

'  Cf.  Oertel,  p.  386 ;  also  Ortsstatule,  Ordnungen  und  Regulative  der  Stadt- 
gemeinde  Halle  a/S.  Amtliche  Ausgabe.  Halle  a/S.:  Verlag  von  Otto  Hendel,  1899  ; 
p.  133.     Referred  to  subsequently  as  Ortssiatuie,  etc. 


ORGANIZATION  OF  THE  CITY  GOVERNMENT  17 

A  further  guarantee  of  the  independence  of  the  administrative 
board  is  to  be  found  in  the  fact  that  the  law  assigns  certain  mat- 
ters exclusively  to  its  jurisdiction.  The  entire  conduct  and  con- 
trol of  the  local  administration,  the  appointment  of  members 
of  the  city  civil  service,  control  over  those  branches  of  the  public 
administration  which  do  not  require  the  expenditure  of  money, 
etc.,  are  vested  in  the  administrative  board  to  the  exclusion  of 
any  interference  on  the  part  of  the  city  council.  All  these 
things  combined  give  to  the  administrative  board  at  least  the 
full  dignity  and  authority  of  a  second  legislative  chamber,  and, 
on  the  whole,  considering  its  extensive  administrative  functions, 
constitute  it  not  only  the  most  striking  feature  in  the  municipal 
government  of  Prussia,  but  also  the  most  powerful.  The  higher 
authorities  may  insist,  moreover,  on  a  suitable  treatment  of  the 
administrative  board  by  the  city  council  as  to  salary,  expenses, 
etc.,  and  the  board  is  thus  protected  in  its  sphere  of  action 
against  too  great  encroachments  on  the  part  of  the  city  council. 

The  collegiate  character  of  this  board  is  an  important  and 
interesting  feature  of  the  public  administration.  The  common 
notion  that  Prussia  is  governed  by  a  bureaucracy  is  nowhere 
more  strikingly  refuted  than  in  city  administration,  and  one  may 
say  in  local  administration  in  general.  In  no  large  country  in 
the  world  is  greater  care  taken  to  provide  that  a  decision,  so  far 
as  it  involves  the  question  of  expediency  in  any  important  public 
matter,  shall  not  be  made  by  one  man,  than  in  the  kingdom  of 
Prussia.  In  every  department  of  the  government,  where  it  is 
possible,  the  system  of  boards  with  collegiate  authority  has  been 
introduced,  and  where  it  is  felt  that  such  a  system  might  lead  to 
divided  responsibility  and  the  principle  of  one-man  authority  is 
therefore  accepted,  still  such  officer  is  required  by  law  to  con- 
sult certain  boards,  to  get  their  official  advice  and  opinion 
before  acting.  The  whole  spirit  of  the  Stein  and  Hardenberg 
reforms  involved,  in  one  direction  at  least,  the  active  participa- 
tion of  the  lay  element,  as  distinct  from  the  professional  element, 
in  the  administration  of  public  affairs,  and  this  principle  has 
found  the   most   extensive  application  in  every  department  of 


1 8  MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION  IN  GERMANY 

local  government  in  Prussia.  Nothing  can  be  done  in  the  sphere 
of  civil  administration  except  by  boards  which  contain  to  a  large 
extent  a  lay  element;  that  is,  a  non-professional  element;  and 
in  every  instance  the  director  or  presiding  officer  has  little  more 
to  say  than  any  other  member  of  the  board,  his  chief  advantage 
consisting  in  the  right  of  an  appeal  to  the  higher  authorities  in 
certain  cases  considered  by  him  to  be  of  very  great  importance. 
Thus,  in  the  administrative  board  of  the  city  of  Halle,  while 
there  are  eight  salaried  members,  who  may  be  considered  pro- 
fessional in  character,  who  may  be  looked  upon  as  in  a  certain 
sense  inspired  by  the  official  and  bureaucratic  spirit  which 
creeps  so  easily  into  every  system  of  public  service,  yet  the  fact 
that  no  action  can  be  taken  by  any  one  of  these  without  the  con- 
sent of  the  board,  or,  in  any  important  matter,  without  the  fullest 
discussion  and  criticism  (of  the  proposed  policy)  in  the  board, 
prevents  that  deadening  influence  which  grows  out  of  official 
routine  and  official  arbitrariness  and  despotism.  When  we  con- 
sider further  that  in  this  board,  which  has  the  sole  power  of 
deciding  all  important  matters,  a  majority,  nine  out  of  seventeen, 
are  lay  members,  it  will  be  seen  that  provision  is  made  for  the 
fullest  and  most  complete  discussion  and  representation  of  the 
controlling  and  leading  views  in  the  community ;  for  these  nine 
lay  or  unprofessional  members  are  chosen  from  among  the  leading 
citizens,  from  among  men  of  high  station  in  the  various  depart- 
ments of  social,  professional,  and  industrial  life.  In  general, 
this  participation  of  great  numbers  of  the  citizens  in  the  active 
work  of  municipal  administration  is  one  of  the  striking  features 
of  the  system  of  local  government  in  Prussia,  and  it  will  be  diffi- 
cult to  find  in  the  history  of  any  other  nation  such  a  remarkable 
development  of  public  spirit  and  public  interest  in  municipal 
affairs  within  so  short  a  time  as  has  taken  place  in  Prussia  under 
the  impulse  of  this  system,  and  the  spirit  in  which  it  has  been 
administered  since  the  beginning  of  the  century.  This  feature 
explains  the  wonderful  development  of  efficiency,  of  initiative 
enterprise,  of  thrift  and  economy,  which  is  characteristic  of  the 
system  of  local  government  in  the  Prussia  of  today. 


ORGANIZATION  OF  THE  CITY  GOVERNMENT  19 

While  the  mayor  is,  primarily,  simply  the  president  of  the 
administrative  board,  he  has  a  certain  authority  which  distinguishes 
him  from  the  other  members  of  the  same.  It  is  his  function,  as 
noted  above,  to  distribute  the  business  to  be  transacted  among  the 
members  of  the  board,  and  to  supervise  and  control  their  admin- 
istration. He  has  a  certain  power  to  inflict  fines  upon  any 
member  of  the  city  civil  service,  and  to  order  the  same  into 
arrest  for  a  certain  brief  period,  in  case  of  neglect  or  violation 
of  his  duties.  In  case  he  regards  any  action  taken  by  the 
administrative  board  as  exceeding  its  authority  or  violating  the 
general  laws  of  the  state,  he  may  veto  the  same,  and  if  the 
administrative  board  chooses  to  appeal  to  the  supervising  authori- 
ties against  the  veto  of  the  mayor,  it  has  the  privilege  of  doing 
so.  In  other  words,  in  case  of  a  permanent  disagreement 
between  the  mayor  and  the  rest  of  the  board  as  to  the  legitimacy 
of  a  certain  action  on  the  part  of  the  board,  the  consent  of  the 
higher  authorities  may  be  substituted  for  the  consent  of  the 
mayor.  This  privilege  of  vetoing  the  action  of  the  board  is  very 
seldom  exercised.  It  has  not  been  exercised  in  the  city  of  Halle 
for  the  last  eighteen  years. 

The  independence  of  the  administrative  board  over  against 
the  city  council,  which  was  discussed  above,  is  also  further 
favored  by  the  fact  that  the  general  laws  of  the  state  and  the 
ordinances  of  the  superior  local  authorities,  provincial  and  district, 
may  and  do  assign  certain  functions  relating  to  the  execution  of 
the  general  laws  of  the  state  and  province  to  the  administrative 
board  alone,  or  else  to  the  mayor.  ■^•In  general,  the  mayor  and 
the  administrative  board  are  the  local  organs  which  arc  intrusted 
with  the  local  execution  of  general  state  and  provincial  legisla- 
tion. In  their  capacity  as  representatives  of  the  higher  legis- 
lative and  administrative  authority,  they  are  not. subject  to  any 
control  on  the  part  of  the  city  council.  This  circumstance  tends 
still  further  to  increase  the  independence  and  the  power  of  the 
administrative  board,  even  in  the  management  of  purely  local  affairs. 

A  large  part  of  the  function  of  an  American  city  council  con- 
sists in  the  issuing  of  local  police  ordinances;  but  in  Halle  the 


2  0  MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION  IN  GERMANY 

whole  administration  of  the  police  and  the  power  of  issuing 
police  ordinances  are  vested  in  the  mayor  as  the  representative  of 
the  state  government.  This  practically  means  that  a  very  impor- 
tant part  of  the  local  ordinance  power  is  vested  in  the  mayor, 
though  in  most  cases  the  consent  of  the  administrative  board  is 
necessary  to  the  making  and  publishing  of  these  ordinances. 

The  meaning  of  the  term  "police"  in  the  German  state  is 
very  broad,  though  perhaps  not  so  extensive  as  the  term  "police 
power"  as  used  in  English  and  American  law.  The  function  of 
the  police  is  declared  in  the  general  code  of  the  kingdom  to  be 
"the  establishment  of  the  necessary  measures  for  the  preserva- 
tion of  public  quiet,  safety,  and  order,  and  for  the  protection  of 
the  public  or  of  individual  members  of  the  same  from  dangers 
which  may  threaten  them."  This,  it  will  be  seen,  is  a  very 
extensive  function  —  more  exactly  defined,  it  is  true,  in  the  law, 
by  the  enumeration  of  the  particular  matters  which  fall  under 
that  head.  Some  notion  of  the  extent  of  this  authority  may  be 
obtained  from  a  brief  summary  of  the  subjects  included  within 
it,  contained  in  the  general  law  relating  to  the  exercise  of  the 
police  power  in  Prussian  cities.  It  is  declared  that  to  the  jurisdic- 
tion of  the  police  authority  belong  the  following  subjects : 

[a)    The  protection  of  person  and  property. 

(^)  Order,  security,  and  ease  of  intercourse  upon  public 
streets,  roads,  squares,  bridges,  banks  of  rivers  and  waters. 

(^)   The  system  of  markets  and  public  sale  of  provisions. 

(^)  Order  and  regularity  in  the  public  assembling  of  large 
numbers  of  persons. 

(^)  The  public  interest  in  lodging-houses  and  hotels,  wine, 
beer,  and  coffee  saloons,  and  other  establishments  for  the  sale  of 
food  and  drink. 

(/)    Protection  of  life  and  health. 

(^)  Protection  against  the  danger  of  fire  in  the  erection  of 
buildings,  as  well  as  against  injurious  or  dangerous  actions,  under- 
takings, or  events  in  general. 

(//)  The  protection  of  fields,  meadows,  pastures,  nurseries, 
vineyards,  etc. 


ORGANIZATION  OF  THE  CITY  GOVERNMENT  2i 

(e)  Everything  else  which  may  be  ordered  by  the  police  in 
the  special  interest  of  communities  and  their  members. 

In  issuing  police  regulations  or  ordinances  concerning  the 
above-mentioned  subjects,  with  the  exception  of  those  relating 
to  public  security,  the  mayor  is  bound  to  obtain  the  consent 
of  the  administrative  board.  In  matters  relating  to  agricul- 
tural police  the  mayor  must  also  obtain  the  consent  of  the  city 
council. 

The  law,  however,  confers  upon  the  city  authorities  as  such 
the  right  to  issue  police  ordinances  in  regard  to  certain  definite 
matters,  and  in  such  cases  the  consent  of  the  city  council  is,  of 
course,  required  to  the  issuance  of  such  ordinances.  To  illus- 
trate the  way  in  which  this  works,  we  may  take  as  an  example 
the  relation  of  the  city  to  the  public  slaughter-house  and  stock- 
yards. Under  the  general  municipal  code  of  Prussia,  which  is 
based  on  the  principle  that  cities  may  do  (not  what  is  expressly 
permitted,  as  in  the  case  of  American  communities,  but)  what  is 
not  prohibited  by  the  law,  a  city  would  be  authorized  to  establish 
a  public  slaughter-house,  if  it  chose  to  do  so,  provided  it  could 
obtain  the  consent  of  the  superior  administrative  authorities, 
which,  generally  speaking,  would  not  be  refused.  But,  having 
established  the  public  slaughter-house,  the  city  could,  under  the 
general  municipal  law,  have  no  authority  to  require  that  all 
slaughtering  in  the  city  should  be  done  in  the  public  slaughter- 
house. This  ordinance  could  only  be  passed  by  the  police 
authority,  which,  in  this  case,  would  be  the  mayor  and  the 
administrative  board.  But  a  general  law,  passed  by  the  state  in 
1869,  provides  that  cities  which  choose  to  erect  public  slaughter- 
houses may  by  local  ordinance  require  that  all  slaughtering  be 
done  in  these  houses.  Thus,  a  portion  of  this  police  authority 
is  vested  in  the  city  authorities  in  general  and  requires  for  its 
exercise  the  consent  of  the  city  council. 

In  the  same  way,  under  its  general  authority  to  make  ordi- 
nances concerning  matters  affecting  its  interest,  so  far  as  the 
particular  power  in  question  is  not  prohibited  to  it  or  vested  in 
some  other  body,  the  city  may  construct  a  water  plant  or  a  system 


2  2  MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION  IN  GERMANY 

of  sewers.  It  may  determine  the  conditions  on  which  private 
individuals  may  make  connections  with  the  water-works  or  sew- 
ers. But  it  has  no  authority  to  require  that  such  connections 
shall  be  made,  even  though,  in  its  own  opinion,  the  public  health 
may  require  it.  This  power  is  vested  solely  in  the  police 
department,  and  must  be  exercised  in  the  form  of  police  ordi- 
nances issued  in  the  manner  prescribed  by  the  law  for  such  regu- 
lations. Thus,  in  Halle,  the  municipal  building  code  is  issued 
by  the  police  authority,  and  it  contains  provisions  requiring  that 
every  house  erected  on  a  street  supplied  with  water  and  sewer 
pipes  shall  be  connected  with  the  same ;  while  the  collection  of 
local  city  ordinances  contains  the  legal  provisions  regulating 
the  method  of  making  such  connections  and  the  fees  to  be  paid 
for  the  same.' 

The  vesting  of  the  police  authority  in  this  large  sense  in  the 
mayor  and  the  administrative  board  practically  makes  the  latter 
a  more  powerful  body,  for  some  purposes,  even  in  the  sphere  of 
what  we  should  be  likely  to  call  in  the  United  States  local 
ordinance,  than  the  city  council  itself.  During  the  year  1899- 
1900  the  administrative  board  held  eighty-seven  sessions  and 
ninety-four  during  the  preceding  year,  showing  the  taxing 
nature  of  its  duties. 

The  administration  of  the  general  state  government  is  repre- 
sented in  the  city  by  the  so-called  "city  committee,"  consisting 
of  the  mayor  and  four  other  members  of  the  administrative 
board,  chosen  by  the  latter.  Two  of  these  are  chosen  from 
among  the  salaried  members,  and  the  other  two  from  among 
the  unsalaried  members.  The  functions  of  the  city  committee 
are,  in  general,  to  see  that  the  laws  and  orders  of  the  higher 
authorities  are  enforced  within  the  limits  of  the  city,  so  far  as 
this  duty  is  not  intrusted  by  law  to  other  officials  of  the  state  or 
province.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  many  important  matters  are 
intrusted  to  its  jurisdiction  —  thus:   the  issuing  of  licenses  for 

'  Cf.  Polizeivorschriften,  Ortsstatule  und  Regulative  der  Stadt  Halle  afS.  Zusam- 
mengestellt  und  erlautert  von  v.  Holly,  Stadt-  und  Polizeirath.  Zweite  Auflage, 
Halle  a/S,:  Verlag  von  Otto  Hendel,  1894  ;  PP-  no  and  481. 


ORGANIZATION  OF  THE  CITY  GOVERNMENT  23 

the  sale  of  intoxicating  drinks;  the  permits  for  the  establish- 
ment of  or  change  in  industrial  plants,  and  for  carrying  on  the 
pawn-shop  business ;  the  organization  and  conduct  of  public 
amusements ;  construction  of  steam  boilers,  and  various  other 
matters  pertaining  to  the  departments  of  administration  which 
are  looked  upon  as  of  a  more  or  less  general  character. 

That  the  duties  of  this  committee  are  no  sinecure  may  be 
seen  from  a  brief  statement  of  its  activity  during  the  year  1899- 
1900.  During  this  year  it  held  18  formal  sessions  and  48  court 
sessions  for  the  determination  of  disputes.  Of  30  disputes 
coming  before  it,  it  settled  by  judgment  27,  and  secured  the 
settlement  of  3  others  in  other  ways  ;  7  cases  were  appealed, 
in  3  of  which  judgment  was  confirmed  and  2  altered,  and  2 
were  still  under  consideration  by  the  higher  authorities.  Of  619 
matters  coming  before  it  for  decision  585  were  decided  by  vote,' 
and  26  settled  in  other  ways.  Permits  were  issued:  21  for 
restaurants,  43  for  general  saloons,  209  for  saloons  excluding 
brandy,  23  for  retail  trade  in  brandy  alone,  13  for  trade  in 
poisons,  2  for  public  amusements,  55  for  the  construction  of 
steam  boilers  —  27  stationary  and  28  movable — 7  more  for 
industrial  plants.  These  permits  were  taxed  to  the  extent  of 
1,387.50  marks  by  means  of  stamps.  Sixty-five  cases  of  dispute 
relating  to  the  support  of  the  poor,  that  is,  determining  whether 
the  city  was  responsible  for  the  support  of  the  poor  in  certain 
disputed  cases,  were  disposed  of.  The  city  committee  has  also 
jurisdiction  in  certain  matters  connected  with  the  adminis- 
tration of  the  agricultural  accident  insurance.  Eighteen  cases 
of  accidents  were  brought  to  its  attention  and  settled  through 
its  agency.  At  the  end  of  the  year  1899  there  were  in  the  city 
87  restaurants,  167  saloons  with  permission  to  sell  brandy,  351 
saloons  without  permission  to  sell  brandy,  and  195  saloons  for 
sale  of  brandy  alone. 

It  will  be  seen  that  to  this  city  committee  are  intrusted  many 
matters  which  in  American  cities  would  be  likely  to  be  vested  in 
special  excise  boards  or  police  commissioners  under  the  general 
supervision  and  control  of  the  city  council. 


w 


24  MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION  IN  GERMANY 

It  is  plain  that  in  the  case  of  this  committee,  as  in  the 
matters  intrusted  to  the  exclusive  control  of  the  administrative 
board  as  a  whole,  the  possession  of  such  important  functions 
enhances  the  dignit)'  and  increases  the  authority  of  the  admin- 
istrative board  over  against  the  city  council. 

The  city  council  of  Halle  consists  of  fifty-four  members, 
chosen  in  accordance  with  the  well-known  Prussian  three-class 
system. 

The  normal  number  of  members  in  the  city  council  is  indi- 
cated in  the  general  municipal  code,  and  varies  according  to 
the  population  of  the  cities;  but  the  provision  in  the  municipal 
code  is  directory  and  not  mandatory.  The  number  in  the  city 
council  is  therefore  practically  determined  by  local  ordinance, 
though  the  normal  number  indicated  in  the  municipal  code  rep- 
resents the  center  around  which  the  actual  number  in  the  various 
cities  may  be  said  to  fluctuate.  Thus,  the  number  in  the  city 
council  of  Halle,  which  was  fixed  at  twenty-seven  under  the 
revised  municipal  code  of  183 1,  remained  at  that  figure  until 
1866,  when  the  number  was  increased  by  local  ordinance  to 
forty-five,  where  it  remained  until  1890,  when  the  number  was 
fixed  at  fifty-four  by  local  ordinance.' 

All  the  qualified  voters  of  the  city  are  arranged  in  a  list  in 
the  order  of  the  amount  of  direct  taxes  which  they  pay  to  the 
city,  district,  province,  and  state.     The  sum  of  these   taxes  is 

'  On  April  i,  1 900,  the  city  council  of  Halle  was  enlarged  by  the  addition  of  twelve 
members,  making  sixty-six  in  all;  thus  providing  for  the  representation  of  the  sub- 
urbs of  the  city  which  were  annexed  on  that  date.  The  agreement  between  the  city 
and  the  annexed  districts  provides  that  until  the  year  1905  the  newly  inaugurated 
villages  shall  constitute  a  separate  and  independent  electoral  district  for  the  election 
of  these  twelve  additional  members,  and  that  the  members  must  be  residents  of 
the  district  in  which  they  shall  be  chosen.  The  number  of  members  chosen  from 
these  new  districts  shall  not  be  reduced  below  twelve.  And  in  case  the  total  number 
of  members  of  the  city  council  be  increased,  then  the  number  elected  from  the  new 
district  shall  be  increased  likewise,  so  as  to  preserve  the  present  numerical  ratio 
between  the  total  number  of  the  city  council  and  the  number  elected  from  the  new 
portions.  This  was  a  temporary  concession  to  the  fear  of  the  annexed  suliurbs  that 
their  special  interests  could  only  thus  be  guaranteed  against  the  neglect  or  unfriendly 
action  of  the  general  city  council.  It  is  a  departure  from  the  provisions  of  the  gen- 
eral municipal  code  in  regard  to  the  constitution  of  city  councils. 


ORGANIZATION  OF  THE  CITY  GOVERNMENT  25 

then  taken,  beginning  at  the  highest  and  continuing  until  a  sum 
equal  to  one-third  of  the  total  taxes  paid  by  all  the  qualified 
voters  is  obtained.  The  persons  who  together  pay  this  first 
third  of  all  the  direct  taxes  constitute  the  first  voting  class. 
The  addition  is  then  continued  until  the  second  third  of  the 
sum-total  is  obtained.  The  persons  who  together  pay  this  sec- 
ond third  constitute  the  second  voting  class.  All  the  other 
qualified  voters,  who  together  pay  the  last  third  of  all  the  direct 
taxes,  constitute  the  third  class.  Each  of  these  classes  is 
entitled  to  choose  one-third  of  the  members  in  the  city  council 
—  or,  in  the  case  of  Halle,  eighteen.  As  the  term  of  office  of 
the  members  of  the  city  council  is  six  years,  and  as  one-third 
retire  every  two  years,  each  class  is  entitled  to  choose  six  mem- 
bers every  two  years.  The  law  provides  that  in  case  there  are 
more  than  five  hundred  voters  in  any  class  the  city  may  be 
divided  into  electoral  districts  for  the  choice  of  members.  In 
the  case  of  Halle  the  city  is  not  divided  into  electoral  districts 
for  the  choice  of  members  in  either  the  first  or  second  class, 
but  is  divided  into  five  districts  for  the  choice  of  members  in 
the  third  class  —  one  member  being  chosen  in  each  of  four  dis- 
tricts and  two  in  the  fifth.'  A  majority  of  the  members  repre- 
senting each  class  must  be  made  up  of  householders. 

It  is  easy  for  anyone  at  all  familiar  with  the  distribution  of 
wealth  and  taxes  in  modern  cities  to  see  that  a  city  council 
made  up  upon  this  method  will  be  composed  primarily  of  rep- 
resentatives of  the  propertied  classes,  and  one  may  say  in  gen- 
eral of  the  classes  possessing  large  property.  For  it  is  certain 
that  the  number  of  members  in  the  first  class  will  be  very  small, 
and  even  in  the  second  class  the  number  will  be  small  compared 
with  that  of  the  third  class. 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  in  the  city  of  Halle,  in  the  year  1899, 
the  list  of  qualified  voters    contained    17,699    names   of  people 

/CV  '  As  the  actual  districting  was  done  many  years  ago,  the  population  of  the  various 
districts  has  become  very  unequal.  Three  of  the  districts  are  much  more  populous 
than  the  other  two,  and,  in  order  to  bring  about  a  certain  rough  equality,  these  three 
are  allowed  to  choose  the  sixth  member  in  turn. 


2  6  MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION  IN  GERMANY 

who  together  contributed  the  sum  of  2,743,639.20  marks  in 
direct  taxes.  One-third  of  this  sum,  or  914,546  marks,  was  con- 
tributed by  140  persons.  The  person  highest  taxed  paid  the 
sum  of  56,051.20  marks.  The  person  who  paid  the  minimum 
sum  entitling  him  to  admission  into  the  first  class  paid  2,267.98 
marks.  The  second  third  of  the  total  amount  of  direct  taxes 
was  contributed  by  914  persons,  who,  therefore,  constituted  the 
second  class  of  voters,  the  highest  taxed  person  in  this  class  pay- 
ing 2,266.89  rnarks,  and  the  lowest  taxed,  486  marks.  All  the 
rest  of  the  voters,  being  16,645  in  number,  contributed  the  last 
third  of  the  direct  taxes,  and  constituted,  therefore,  the  third 
class.  The  highest  taxed  person  in  the  third  class  paid  486 
marks. 

The  first  two  classes,  containing  together  only  a  little  over 
one  thousand  persons,  and  including  no  one  who  did  not  pay  at 
least  Si 20  in  direct  taxes,  elected  together  thirty-six  members 
of  the  city  council,  while  the  third  class,  containing  sixteen 
times  as  many  persons,  elected  only  one-third  of  the  members 
of  the  city  council.  It  is  plain  that  the  first  class  and  a  majority 
of  the  second  class  could  elect  two-thirds  of  the  members  in  the 
city  council,  and  it  is  also  plain  that  this  list  would  include  a 
comparatively  small  number,  not  to  exceed  three  hundred  per- 
sons, all  paying  probably  upward  of  S250  a  year  in  direct  taxes. 
It  is  evident  that  this  system  of  government  has  been  properly 
denominated  a  government  by  the  taxpayers,  and,  one  may  add, 
by  the  large  taxpayers.  Owing  to  the  fact  that  a  citizen  must 
have  paid  a  tax,  to  which  he  has  been  regularly  assessed,  before 
voting,  or  must  show  an  income  of  at  least  660  marks  (Si  57.08), 
or  must  be  a  house-owner,  etc.,  the  total  number  of  qualified 
voters  falls  considerably  below  the  total  number  of  male  citizens 
twenty-four  years  of  age  (the  age  required  before  a  person  can 
vote)  in  the  community.  Thus,  a  large  number  of  male  citizens 
of  the  required  age  is  practically  excluded  —  varying  (according 
to  different  estimates)  from  15  to  30  per  cent.  This  system 
leads  to  a  relatively  small  participation  of  the  qualified  voters  in 
the  elections,  being  in  the  elections  of   1897,  5°.  59.  ^"^^   54  P^^r 


ORGANIZATION  OF  THE  CITY  GOVERNMENT  27 

cent.,  respectively,  in  the  three  classes  from  I  to  III.'  In  the 
elections  of  1899,  43  per  cent,  of  the  voters  in  the  first  class 
appeared  at  the  polls,  56  per  cent,  of  the  second  class,  and  54 
per  cent,  of  the  third  class.  It  must  be  remembered  in  comparmg 
these  figures  with  American  reports  that  the  German  registry 
contains  the  names  of  all  those  entitled  to  vote,  and  not  merely 
those  who  have  specially  registered  for  the  single  puri)osc  of 
voting  —  a  number  always  much  smaller  than  the  total  number 
of  otherwise  qualified  voters. 

The  city  council  is  authorized  to  select  its  own  president, 
vice-president,  secretary,  and  clerk,  though  the  other  employees 
are  appointed  by  the  administrative  board.  The  city  council  is 
independent  in  its  consideration  of  the  matters  assigned  to  it, 
and  its  jurisdiction  is  described  in  a  general  way  to  include  all 

'To  be  a  qualified  voter  in  Halle,  a  person  must  be  a  male  citizen  of  the  Prussian 
state,  independent  [i.  e,  under  no  tutelage  or  guardianship,  judicial  or  otherwise),  and 
twenty  four  years  of  age.     He  must,  moreover,  for  a  year  previous  to  the  election 

1.  Have  been  a  resident  of  the  city; 

2.  Have  received  no  public  poor  relief ; 

3.  Have  paid  the  local  taxes  assessed  upon  him  ; 

4.  And  either 

(a)  Own  a  dwelling  house  in  the  city  ;  or 

{b)  Carry  on  an  independent  business  with  the  aid  of  at  least  two  assistants  ;  or 

{c)  Have  been  assessed  either  to  the  state  income  tax  or  at  the  fictitious  normal 
rate  of  at  least  four  marks  ($0,952),  or  at  an  income  of  660  to  900  marks. 

The  last  provision  {c)  is  rather  complicated.  It  means  in  effect  that  every  per- 
son whose  yearly  income  has  been  ascertained  to  be  660  marks  (Si 57-08)  or  oyer, 
according  to  the  test  prescribed  in  the  income-tax  law  for  ascertaining  income,  shall 
be  allowed  to  vote.  In  this  process  certain  deductions  are  made  from  the  actual 
income  in  order  to  determine  the  assessed  income,  as,  for  instance,  life-insurance 
fees,  etc.;  a  certain  sum  for  each  child  dependent  on  the  person  taxed,  allowances  for 
sums  paid  for  the  support  of  parents  or  other  relatives,  etc.;  so  that  the  "  assessed 
income  "  of  660  marks  may  correspond  to  an  actual  income  of  anywhere  from  660  to 
1,000  marks  or  even  more,  according  to  the  circumstances.  The  state  does  not  levy 
any  tax  upon  assessed  incomes  of  less  than  900  marks;  cities  are  permitted  to  levy 
taxes  upon  assessed  incomes  of  460  marks  or  more.  Halle  levies  an  income  tax  upon 
assessed  incomes  of  660  marks  or  more — the  sum  usually  varying  from  4  to  5  marks 
upon  assessed  incomes  of  660  to  900  marks.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  in  the  year  1898 
the  minimum  income  tax  to  be  paid  by  a  voter  was  4. So  marks  (Si. 14). 

This  provision  excludes  from  voting  a  certain  number  of  otherwise  qualified  per- 
sons—  exactly  how  many  there  is  no  means  of  ascertaining  from  the  records.  The 
provision  in  regard  to  Prussian  citizenship  excludes  probably  many  more. 


28  MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION  IN  GERMANY 

matters  which  are  not  expressly  assigned  by  law  to  the  exclusive 
jurisdiction  of  the  administrative  board  or  other  authorities.  It 
is  authorized  to  appoint  its  own  committees,  for  the  considera- 
tion of  such  business  as  is  referred  to  it.  It  chooses,  as  said 
before,  the  members  of  the  administrative  board,  including  the 
mayor  and  vice-mayor.  It  fixes  the  remuneration  of  the  salaried 
members.  It  has  in  general  full  control  of  all  financial  matters. 
It  is,  however,  as  one  can  see  from  the  description  of  the  func- 
tions of  the  administrative  board  given  above,  very  largely  a 
controlling  and  supervising,  rather  than  a  legislating,  body.  Like 
the  English  House  of  Commons,  its  consent  is  necessary  to  all 
legislation,  but  nearly  all  initiative  in  legislation  comes  from  the 
administrative  board  itself,  and  even  if  the  city  council  desire  to 
initiate  legislation,  which  right,  by  the  way,  is  given  to  it  to  the 
fullest  extent,  it  takes  the  form  usually,  as  said  before,  of  ask- 
ing the  administrative  board  to  submit  an  ordinance  relating  to 
the  subject  in  hand.  It  is  usually  represented  by  members  of 
its  own  choice  in  all  the  deputations,  commissions,  and  sub- 
boards  mentioned  below.  It  may  investigate  the  working  of 
any  city  department,  and  for  this  purpose  it  may  require  the 
assistance  of  the  administrative  board. 

The  relation  of  these  two  city  bodies  to  each  other  is 
reflected  in  the  sessions  of  the  city  council  itself.  These  ses- 
sions are  held  in  the  hall  of  the  city  council  at  times  to  be 
determined  by  the  city  council  itself,  so  far  as  the  regular  ses- 
sions are  concerned,  extraordinary  sessions  being  held  at  the 
call  of  the  presiding  officer,  either  on  his  own  initiative  or  at  the 
request  of  other  members.  In  this  hall  the  president  of  the  city 
council,  the  vice-president,  and  the  secretary  occupy  seats  at  a 
raised  desk  at  one  end,  while  the  members  of  the  city  council 
occupy  seats  upon  the  floor  directly  in  front  of  this  desk.  To 
the  right  and  left  of  the  president's  desk  runs  a  row  of  seats 
equal  in  number  to  that  of  the  administrative  board.  These 
desks  are  assigned  to  members  of  the  administrative  board,  and, 
generally  speaking,  they  are  occupied  by  such  members  as  have 
charge  of  administrative  departments  within  whose  jurisdiction 


ORGANIZATION  OF  THE  CITY  GOVERNMENT  29 

the  business  of  any  particular  meeting  may  fall.  The  members 
of  the  administrative  board  have  the  right  to  be  heard  at  their 
own  request  upon  any  and  all  propositions  discussed  in  the  city 
council  which  they  may  be  called  upon  to  execute.  They  are 
also  required  to  answer  questions  which  the  members  of  the  city 
council  choose  to  address  to  them,  so  far  as  they  relate  to  sub- 
jects over  which  the  city  council  has  control.  This  brings  about, 
as  noted  before,  a  similar  intimate  relation  between  the  adminis- 
trative board  and  the  city  council  as  exists  between  the  English 
cabinet  and  the  House  of  Commons,  or  rather  as  exists  between 
the  executive  council  in  Switzerland  and  the  legislative  branch  in 
that  country.  The  city  council  is  very  jealous  of  its  preroga- 
tives, of  its  right  of  discussion  and  criticism,  and  of  its  right  to 
reject  the  propositions  made  by  the  administrative  board,  and 
this  right  is  very  frequently  exercised.  When  a  matter  has 
become  ripe  for  report  to  the  city  council,  after  having  received 
the  approval  of  all  the  appropriate  commissions,  it  has  already 
gone  through  so  many  instances  that  it  is  very  likely  to  be 
accepted,  unless  there  is  some  strong  feeling  on  the  subject  on 
the  part  of  individual  members  of  the  council.  The  procedure 
strikes  one  as  a  little  cumbersome,  and  calculated  sometimes 
rather  to  impede  public  business  than  to  facilitate  it.  Thus,  a 
proposition  to  expend  $2^^  in  the  repair  of  the  boilers  in  the  city 
theater  must  first  be  worked  out  in  the  ofifice  of  the  city  engineer, 
in  detail,  showing  how  the  money  is  to  be  spent,  the  necessity  of 
it,  the  possibility  that  it  will  save  future  expenditures  within  a 
certain  length  of  time,  etc.  The  matter  must  then  be  submitted 
to  the  theater  commission,  to  the  technical  commission,  to  the 
finance  commission ;  then  passed  upon  by  the  administrative 
board,  and  finally  by  the  city  council.  All  propositions  looking 
to  the  expenditure  of  money  must  go  before  the  finance  com- 
mission and,  generally  speaking,  before  at  least  one  other  com- 
mission. If  the  administrative  board  is  in  favor  of  a  given 
project,  it  reports  the  matter  to  the  chairman  of  the  city  council. 
Before  submitting  it  to  the  council  the  chairman  hands  it  over  to 
a  member  or   to  a  committee  of  the  council  with  the  request  to 


30  MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRA  TION  IN  GERMANY 

report  it  to  the  council  at  the  next  meeting  with  comments.  The 
most  important  matters  go,  of  course,  to  the  chairmen  of  stand- 
ing committees  ;  the  less  important  may  be  referred  to  a  single 
member  or  to  two  members,  with  the  request  that  each  shall 
give  his  opinion  to  the  council.  Thus  each  matter  is  reported 
to  the  city  council  by  a  member  of  that  body.  He  states  what 
the  administrative  board  has  proposed  and  what  the  attitude  of 
the  various  commissions  has  been  before  which  it  has  been  laid 
for  consideration.  If  there  is  a  difference  of  opinion  between 
these  commissions,  as,  for  instance,  between  the  finance  commis- 
sion and  the  building  commission,  or  the  finance  commission 
and  the  school  commission,  there  is,  of  course,  a  greater  readi- 
ness on  the  part  of  the  city  council  to  reject  the  proposition  of 
the  administrative  board  than  if  it  comes  to  the  city  council  with 
the  full  approval  of  all  the  committees  and  commissions  to  which 
it  has  been  submitted. 

It  will  be  seen  from  the  above  description  that  wc  have 
nothing  in  the  United  States  exactly  similar  to  either  of  these 
bodies,  and  nothing  at  all  resembling  the  combination  and 
co-operation  of  these  two  bodies  in  city  administration. 
Whether  such  a  scheme  would  work  in  the  United  States  or  not 
is  extremely  doubtful,  but  there  is  no  doubt  at  all  that  such  a 
scheme  could  not  be  adopted  with  our  views  upon  the  subject  of 
municipal  government  and  its  relation  to  the  state  and  society. 
Probably  one  of  the  fundamental  conditions  of  efficiency  and  of 
initiative  enterprise  in  this  form  of  municipal  government  is  the 
professional  permanent  element,  which  is  the  very  thing  which 
we  in  the  United  States  have  thus  far  rejected  in  toto  as  a  proper 
element  in  municipal  administration.  It  would  probably,  further- 
more, be  difificult  for  such  a  scheme  to  work  at  all  unless  it  were 
based  upon  some  restriction  of  the  suffrage  —  a  proposition 
which  stands  little  chance  of  being  adopted  in  any  American 
community.  It  seems,  moreover,  that  a  permanent  civil  service 
is  an  additional  necessary  element  to  the  successful  working  of 
such  a  scheme,  and  a  permanent  nonj)artisan  civil  service  is 
something  to  which  we  Americans  ha\e  not  as  yet  made  up  our 


ORGANIZATION  OF  THE  CITY  GOVERNMENT  31 

minds,  although  we  have  been  struggling  toward  it  for  a  genera- 
tion. 

During  the  year  1 899-1 900  the  city  council  held  forty 
regular  sessions  and  three  special  sessions,  and  this  represents 
about  the  average  number  per  year. 

A  satisfactory  view  of  the  constitution  and  working  of  muni- 
cipal government  in  Halle  cannot,  however,  be  obtained  without 
considering  further  the  functions  of  the  various  commissions, 
deputations,  etc.,  referred  to  above. 

The  general  municipal  code  of  1853,  under  which  the  govern- 
ment of  the  city  of  Halle  is  organized  and  administered,  pro- 
vides that  special  deputations,  commissions,  or  boards  may  be 
constituted  for  the  permanent  administration  or  supervision  of 
special  departments  of  the  public  business,  as  well  as  for  the 
performance  of  special  or  temporary  functions.'  These  deputa- 
tions may  consist  either  solely  of  members  of  the  administrative 
board,  or  of  members  of  the  administrative  board  and  the  citv 
council,  or  of  members  of  both  these  bodies  with  the  addition 
of  qualified  voters  from  among  the  body  of  citizens.  In  order 
to  constitute  joint  commissions  of  both  bodies,  the  consent  of 
each  body  is  necessary. 

These  commissions  are  placed  under  the  immediate  control 
and  supervision  of  the  administrative  board.  They  report  to  it 
and  not  to  the  city  council.  The  city  council  may  choose  its 
own  representatives,  and  any  additional  citizens  who  are  to  be 
selected  as  members  of  the  deputations,  while  the  mayor  is  to 
name  the  members  of  the  administrative  board,  and  also  to  choose 
one  of  the  latter  as  chairman  of  the  deputation. 

Permission  is  also  given  to  the  city  to  adopt  other  and  addi- 
tional regulations  or  special  regulations,  growing  out  of  the 
special  needs  of  the  community,  in  regard  to  these  permanent  or 
temporary  deputations. 

The  city  of  Halle  has  made  extensive  use  of  this  privilege 
of  creating  special  commissions  or  boards  for  the  supervision 
or    conduct    of    the    various    branches    of    city    administration. 

'  Cf.  Oertel,  p.  322. 


32  MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION  IN  GERMANY 

Something  like  forty  of  such  joint  commissions,  under  the  various 
names  of  deputation,  commission,  board  of  trustees,  directory, 
etc.,  have  been  created  by  the  city  authorities.  To  some  of 
them  a  far-reaching  jurisdiction  of  independent  action  has  been 
assigned  ;  to  others,  rather  a  directory  and  supervising  authority, 
with  the  duty  of  reporting  to  the  administrative  board.  It  will 
not  be  possible  within  the  compass  of  such  a  work  as  this  to 
enter  into  a  detailed  enumeration  and  discussion  of  all  these 
different  commissions  and  boards,  but  it  will  be  worth  our  while 
to  examine  a  little  more  closely  the  constitution  and  jurisdiction 
of  two  or  three  of  the  more  important  ones  ;  and  for  the  purpose 
of  illustrating  the  working  of  the  city  government  I  shall  select 
three  as  having  charge  of  especially  important  branches  of  public 
administration  and  having  a  somewhat  extensive  sphere  of  inde- 
pendent jurisdiction  within  the  limits  of  the  law. 

The  city  has  under  its  charge  the  elementary  and  secondary 
schools.  Of  the  seconday  schools  the  most  important  are  the 
gymnasium,  the  higher  real  school,  and  the  girls'  high  school. 
The  gymnasium  and  the  higher  real  school  are  placed  under 
the  charge  of  a  board  of  trustees,  consisting  of  nine  members  — 
two  members  of  the  administrative  board,  appointed  by  the 
mayor,  one  of  whom,  of  course,  is  the  city  school  inspector; 
three  members  of  the  city  council,  the  directors  of  the  two 
schools  ^;i:-(?^«^,  a  professor  in  the  university,  and  a  former  mem- 
ber of  the  administrative  board  now  out  of  service.  To  this 
board  of  trustees  are  deputed  the  general  supervision  of  the  work 
of  these  schools,  recommendations  as  to  equipment,  the  making 
out  of  the  annual  budget,  recommendations  as  to  additional 
teachers,  and  recommendations  of  persons  to  be  appointed  as 
teachers,  the  actual  appointing  power,  however,  being  vested  in 
the  administrative  board  of  the  city. 

It  will  be  seen  that  this  board  of  trustees  unites  in  itself  a 
very  happy  combination  of  the  expert  and  lay  element  in  educa- 
tion. Generally  speaking,  in  Prussia  the  head  of  any  public 
institution  is  also  a  member  of  the  governing  board  of  that 
institution,   with    full   voting   rights  as  a  member   in    regard   to 


ORGANIZATION  OF  THE  CITY  GOVERNMENT  33 

everything  concerning  the  school  which  does  not  affect  his  own 
personal  relations.  Such  a  subordination  of  the  head  of  the 
school  under  the  board  of  trustees  in  a  sort  of  clerical  position 
as  is  the  rule  in  American  cities  would  not  be  suffered  for  an 
instant  in  Prussia.  Aside  from  the  directors  of  the  schools,  as 
experts,  the  presence  of  a  university  professor  insures  the  inter- 
est of  the  university  in  these  schools,  which  are  primarily  the 
preparatory  schools  for  all  the  higher  institutions.  The  presence 
of  the  school  inspector  secures  continuity  and  harmony  in  the 
administration  of  this  school  and  a  proper  fitting  of  its  conduct 
into  the  general  conduct  of  the  school  system  of  the  city.  The 
girls'  high  school  is  placed  under  the  charge  of  a  similar  board 
of  trustees,  with  similar  authority,  consisting  of  seven  members 
—  the  city  school  inspector,  a  second  member  of  the  administra- 
tive board,  two  city  councilmen,  the  director  of  the  school 
ex-officio,  and  a  professor  in  the  university.  A  position  now 
vacant  and  shortly  to  be  filled  was  formerly  occupied  by  the 
senior  clergyman  of  the  established  church  in  the  city. 

The  elementary  schools  of  the  city  are  placed  under  the 
charge  of  a  special  school  commission  or  a  school  board,  con- 
sisting of  seventeen  members  —  three  members  of  the  administra- 
tive board,  including  the  mayor  as  chairman  of  the  commission, 
and  the  city  school  inspector,  three  members  of  the  city  council, 
including  the  chairman  of  that  body,  a  leading  clergyman  of  the 
city,  the  director  of  the  girls'  high  school,  and  the  principals  of 
the  ward  schools  in  the  city  (six  in  number)  ex-officio.  The 
seventeenth  member  is  a  former  member  of  the  administrative 
board  now  retired.  The  ordinance  establishing  the  school  com- 
mission declares  that  its  function,  in  general,  is  to  care  for  the 
observance  of  external  order  in  the  school  system  and  for  the 
careful  compliance  with  the  laws  and  ordinances  hitherto  estab- 
lished relating  to  it;  also  to  examine  everything  by  which  the 
welfare  of  the  schools  may  be  injured  or  promoted,  and  to  report 
upon  the  same  to  the  administrative  board.  With  the  exception 
of  the  members  of  the  administrative  board,  who  are  appointed 
at  the  pleasure  of  the  mayor,  and  of  the  ex-officio  members  of  the 


34  MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION  IN  GERMANY 

board,  the  others  are  chosen  by  the  city  council  for  terms  of  six 
years,  in  such  a  way  that  half  are  to  retire  every  three  years. 

To  this  school  commission  is  assigned  the  supervision  of 
school  attendance.  Its  duty  is  to  see  that  the  enrollment  of 
pupils  takes  place  at  regular  periods  of  the  year,  in  accordance 
with  the  general  school  laws  of  the  state,  that  provisions  relating 
to  school  attendance  are  observed,  that  daily  absences  are  noted 
and  reported  by  the  teacher.  In  other  words,  it  is  to  see  that 
the  provisions  of  the  compulsory  school  law  in  regard  to  school 
attendance  are  fully  complied  with.  It  has  also  charge  of  school 
property  and  school  buildings.  It  is  to  prepare  the  school 
budget  and  to  make  propositions  in  reference  to  the  increase  of 
salaries,  in  reference  to  the  appointment  of  additional  teachers 
and  nominations  to  fill  vacancies  or  new  positions  created  by  the 
administrative  board.  It  supervises  the  general  conduct  of  the 
schools  by  the  teachers,  takes  note  of  any  complaints  in  regard 
to  the  way  in  which  they  perform  their  duties,  assists  them  in 
the  maintenance  of  discipline  inside  and  outside  of  the  schools, 
and  determines  the  time  of  beginning  and  closing  the  school 
vacations,  within  the  limits  of  the  general  laws  and  ordinances. 

It  will  be  noted  that  this  school  commission  has  to  do  only 
with  the  elementary  schools  of  the  city,  that  is,  the  so-called  com- 
mon schools,  or  Volksschulen,  and  the  middle  schools.  The  term 
"  lower  schools  "  signifies,  in  a  legal  sense,  a  school,  graduation 
from  which  does  not  justify  admission  to  the  privilege  of  one- 
year  voluntary  military  service.  It  would,  therefore,  strictly 
speaking,  include  also  the  girls'  high  school,  but  a  special  excep- 
tion has  been  made  in  the  case  of  the  city  of  Halle  in  such  a 
way  that  the  girls'  high  school  is  classed  as  a  higher  school, 
owing  to  the  unusually  high  character  of  its  instructing  body 
and  the  general  equipment  and  conduct  of  the  school  as  a  whole. 

The  school  commission,  moreover,  has  control  only  of  the 
evangelical  schools  of  the  city.  This  is  practically  all  the  lower 
schools  of  the  city,  with  the  exception  of  one  —  the  Catholic 
school,  which  is  under  the  charge  of  a  special  commission,  con- 
sisting of  the  school  inspector,  one  member  of  the  city  council, 


ORGANIZATION  OF  THE  CITY  GOVERNMENT  35 

the  priest  of  the  Catholic  church,  the  principal  of  the  school, 
and  two  citizens.  The  elementary  schools  in  the  city  of  Halle 
are  organized  on  the  so-called  confessional  system,  and  are 
divided  into  the  evangelical  and  Catholic  schools.  Religious 
instruction  is  given  in  all  schools  by  the  regular  teachers,  and 
Catholic  parents  who  do  not  wish  their  children  to  attend  the 
regular  religious  instruction  of  the  evangelical  schools  must  send 
them  to  the  Catholic  school  in  the  town.  This  constitutes,  of 
course,  a  certain  hardship,  since,  instead  of  the  twenty  or  twenty- 
five  evangelical  elementary  schools  distributed  throughout  the 
city,  there  is  only  one  Catholic  school. 

In  general,  this  school  commission  is  an  advisory,  consulting, 
and  administrative  body  rather  than  one  of  independent  powers 
of  action.  The  city,  however,  is  now  considering  the  organiza- 
tion of  a  school  deputation  which  will  not  be  merely  an  advisory 
or  consulting  body,  but  will  constitute,  under  the  direction  and 
supervision  of  the  administrative  board,  the  real  school  authority 
of  the  city.  It  will  appoint  teachers,  fix  their  salaries,  within 
the  limits  of  the  budget  set  by  the  city  authorities,  and  in  gen- 
eral have  complete  control  within  the  limits  of  the  law  of  school 
matters  within  the  city. 

It  will  be  observed  that  the  city  school  inspector  is  one  of 
the  members  of  the  administrative  board,  with  full  rights  of 
deliberation  and  voting  upon  all  matters  falling  within  the  juris- 
diction of  that  body.  He  is,  to  a  certain  extent,  the  official 
adviser  and  expert  in  school  matters  to  the  administrative  board. 
He  occupies,  therefore,  in  one  sense,  a  position  somewhat  similar 
to  that  of  a  city  superintendent  of  schools  in  an  American  city. 
But,  on  the  other  hand,  as  he  is  a  member  of  each  of  the 
special  school  boards  and  practically  presiding  officer  of  the 
same,  as  well  as  a  full-fledged  member  of  the  administrative  board 
itself,  he  occupies  in  many  respects  a  more  important  and  a 
more  influential  position  than  his  counterpart  in  an  American 
city.  He  is,  moreover,  a  more  permanent  official,  since  his  term 
of  office  is  in  the  first  instance  twelve  years,  and  the  city  cannot 
dismiss   him  without  conferring  a  pension   upon  him,  as  noted 


36  MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION  IN  GERMANY 

above,  to  the  extent  of  one-half  of  his  salary  after  twelve  years' 
service  and  of  seven-tenths  of  his  entire  salary  after  twenty- 
four  years'  service.  The  new  school  deputation,  which  may  be 
created  within  the  next  two  or  three  years,  will  assume  entire 
charge,  not  only  of  the  lower  schools  but  of  the  higher  schools 
as  well,  replacing  at  once  the  two  commissions  of  the  elementary 
schools  and  the  various  boards  of  trustees  of  the  higher  schools. 

The  schools  of  a  city  are  regarded  in  Prussia,  not  merely  as 
local  institutions,  but  also  as  state  institutions,  and  as  such  are 
further  subject  to  the  supervision  of  the  state  school  depart- 
ment. For  the  lower  schools  the  government  appoints  a  local 
school  inspector,  who  must  report  regularly  to  the  higher  school 
authorities  as  to  the  manner  in  which  the  school  affairs  of  the 
city  are  conducted.  This  school  inspector  has  usually  been  the 
senior  clergyman  of  the  established  church  in  the  city,  but  since 
his  death  a  short  time  ago  the  functions  of  state  school  inspector 
have  been  conferred  upon  the  city  school  inspector.  The  office 
of  city  school  inspector  as  a  member  of  the  administrative  board 
is  not  to  be  found  in  all  Prussian  cities.  Halle  was  one  of  the 
first  to  establish  the  office,  and  the  present  incumbent,  Dr. 
Krahe,  who  has  held  the  office  sixteen  or  seventeen  years,  was 
the  first  school  inspector  chosen  in  this  city.^ 

The  nomination  of  teachers,  as  said  above,  for  positions  in 
the  elementary  schools  is  made  by  the  school  commission.  The 
method  pursued  is  somewhat  as  follows  :  In  the  first  place,  no 
one  can  be  appointed  under  the  general  school  law  who  has  not 
graduated  at  a  state  normal  school  or  passed  the  examinations 
which  would  be  accepted  as  the  equivalent  of  such  graduation. 
In  the  second  place,  according  to  a  local  rule,  adopted  by  the 
commission  itself,  no  one  will  be  nominated  to  such  a  position 
who  has  not  passed  the  second  examination  required  of  normal- 
school  graduates ;  so  that  no  one  can  be  considered  as  a  candi- 
date for  permanent  appointment  in  these  elementary  schools 
who  has  not  had  four  or  five  years  of  practical  experience  in 
addition  to  the  two  examinations  required  of  persons  who  receive 

'  Since  the  above  account  was  written  Dr.  Krahe  has  died. 


ORGANIZATION  OF  THE  CITY  GOVERNMENT  37 

permanent  appointment  in  Prussian  public  schools.  It  was  for- 
merly the  custom  in  case  of  vacancies  in  the  city  schools  to  pub- 
lish the  fact  in  the  newspapers  and  to  give  notice  that  people 
might  apply  who  desired  an  appointment.  The  city  has  ceased 
doing  this  because  of  the  fact  that  more  applications  are  now 
regularly  made  from  properly  qualified  teachers  than  can  be  con- 
sidered. In  case  a  person  applies  for  a  position  in  the  city 
schools,  he  must  present  certificates  showing  graduation  from  the 
normal  school,  the  standing  attained  in  the  final  examination  at 
such  school,  also  certificates  covering  the  same  ground  as  to  the 
second  examination,  certificates  as  to  the  condition  of  health, 
certificates  from  the  local  school  inspector,  from  the  city  school 
inspector  (if  there  is  one),  and  from  the  higher  school  authority 
of  the  district  in  regard  to  his  experience  and  success  as  a 
teacher.  If  these  certificates  are,  any  of  them,  unsatisfactory,  the 
person's  name  is  dropped,  without  further  ceremony,  from  the 
list  of  candidates  to  be  considered.  If,  however,  they  are  unex- 
ceptionable, notice  is  then  sent  to  the  individual  that  his  name 
has  been  entered  upon  the  list  of  candidates,  and  that  in  case  of 
a  vacancy  further  notice  will  be  sent  to  him.  When  a  vacancy 
arises,  those  persons,  whose  names  are  on  the  list,  who  seem  to 
be  most  likely  to  serve  the  purpose,  are  invited  to  visit  the  city, 
present  themselves  in  person,  and  give  a  model  exercise  in  one 
of  the  schools,  before  the  city  inspector  and  one  or  two  mem- 
bers of  the  school  commission.  In  case  the  school  commission 
is  satisfied  with  these  tests,  it  recommends  to  the  administrative 
board  that  such  person  be  appointed.  If  the  board  approves 
the  recommendation  of  the  school  commission,  the  name, 
together  with  a  copy  of  all  the  proceedings  in  the  matter,  is  sent 
to  the  higher  school  authority  for  approval.  The  city  school 
inspector  states  that  during  his  term  of  ofifice  the  administrative 
board  has  never  failed  to  approve  the  recommendation  of  the 
school  commission  as  to  the  appointment  of  teachers,  nor  have 
the  higher  school  authorities  ever  failed  to  approve  the  recom- 
mendation of  the  administrative  board.  It  will  be  seen  that  this 
system  aims  at  securing  the  very  best  available  ability,  whether 


38  MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION  IN  GERMANY 

in  the  city  or  outside  of  the  city,  for  the  schools.  There  is  no 
question  here  of  favoring  people  because  they  are  residents  of 
the  city  of  Halle,  but  the  field  is  open  without  fear  or  favor  to 
all  properly  qualified  citizens  of  the  Prussian  state.  As  a  matter 
of  fact,  a  very  large  proportion  of  teachers  in  the  elementary 
schools  have  been  chosen  from  the  ranks  of  teachers  engaged  in 
other  cities.  As  the  city  school  inspector  states,  it  is  an  advan- 
tage of  a  large  city  like  Halle  that  it  can  have  its  pick  of  the 
best  teachers  to  be  found  in  the  schools  of  the  smaller  towns 
throughout  the  kingdom. 

It  goes  without  the  saying  in  Prussia  that  no  teacher  would  be 
appointed  to  a  position  in  the  evangelical  schools  who  did  not 
belong  to  the  evangelical  faith,  nor  to  a  position  in  the  Catholic 
schools  who  was  not  a  Catholic.  Furthermore,  no  person  of 
Jewish  faith  could  be  appointed  to  a  position  in  the  city  elemen- 
tary schools,  since  there  are  no  special  schools  for  the  Jews,  and 
Jews  would  not  be  appointed  either  to  the  evangelical  or  Catholic 
schools.  This  feature  is  connected  with  the  requirement  that  reli- 
gious instruction  shall  be  offered  in  all  the  schools,  and  that  each 
individual  teacher  must  be  qualified  to  give  the  religious  instruc- 
tion appropriate  to  his  particular  grade.  It  would  not  be  satis- 
factory to  the  sentiments  of  the  community  for  a  Jew  to  give 
instruction  in  the  Christian  religion  to  the  children  of  Christian  par- 
ents, nor  to  a  Catholic  to  have  a  Protestant  give  religious  instruc- 
tion to  his  children,  or  vice  versa.  All  this  is  an  outgrowth  of 
the  peculiar  survivals  to  be  found  in  European  countries.  The 
state  requires  that  formal  religious  instruction  shall  be  given  to 
every  child,  and  if  a  parent  objects  to  his  child's  receiving  the 
religious  instruction  offered  in  the  school,  as  a  Jewish  parent 
might,  for  example,  he  must  show  to  the  satisfaction  of  the  school 
authorities  that  the  child  is  receiving  religious  instruction  else- 
where, according  to  the  standards  of  the  Jewish  faith,  in  as  sys- 
tematic and  thoroughgoing  a  way  as  the  children  who  attend 
religious  instruction  in  the  schools  receive  there.' 

'  This  limitation  refers  to  persons  of  Jewish  faith ;  not  to  those  of  Jewish  race 
who  may  have   been  converted  and   baptized   as  Christians.     In  Berlin,  where   the 


ORGANIZATION  OF  THE  CITY  GOVERNMENT  39 

Another  important  department  of  public  administration  which 
is  intrusted  to  the  care  of  a  permanent  deputation  or  commission 
is  that  of  the  care  for  the  poor.  The  city  of  Halle  forms  a  poor- 
law  district,  with  the  obligation  of  caring  for  the  poor  within  its 
boundaries,  in  accordance  with  the  provisions  of  the  general  laws 
of  the  state.  For  the  purpose  of  carrying  out  this  function,  a 
poor-law  board  has  been  constituted,  under  the  control  and 
supervision  of  the  administrative  board,  but  with  an  extensive 
field  of  independent  jurisdiction.  The  poor-law  board,  called  the 
Armendirection,  consists,  according  to  the  ordinance  establishing 
it,  of  two  members  of  the  administrative  board,  of  whom  one 
must  be  chairman  and  the  other  vice-chairman,  these  appointed 
by  the  mayor;  of  two  members  of  the  city  council,  of  the  chair- 
men of  the  local  poor  districts,  of  one  or  more  principals  of  ward 
schools,  of  a  clergyman,  of  the  chairman  of  the  Women's  Asso- 
ciation for  the  Care  of  Orphans,  and  of  a  physician.  As  the  city 
is  divided  into  twenty-three  local  poor  districts,  and  the  chair- 
man of  each  of  these  poor  districts  is  a  member  of  the  general 
poor-law  board,  the  board  has  a  large  membership  —  no  less  than 
thirty-four.  As  some  of  the  chairmen  of  the  local  poor-law  dis- 
tricts are  also  members  of  the  city  council,  the  actual  constitution 
of  the  board  at  present  shows  altogether  four  members  of  the 
city  council.  It  includes,  moreover,  two  members  of  the  admin- 
istrative board,  four  principals  of  ward  schools  as  members 
ex-officio,  two  clergymen,  and  the  hospital  physician.  The  term 
of  office  of  all  except  the  ex-officio  members  is  six  years,  and 
must  coincide  either  with  membership  in  the  city  council  or  with 
chairmanship  in  the  local  poor  boards.  The  general  poor-law 
board  has  charge  of  all  matters  relating  to  the  administration  of 
the  poor  law  which  are  not  assigned  expressly  to  the  various 
district  commissions  in  the  city  local  districts.  The  following 
subjects  are  expressly  assigned  to  its  jurisdiction : 

departmental  system  of  instruction  has  been  largely  adopted,  and  where,  therefore,  the 
religious  instruction  is  given  by  special  teachers,  this  limitation  does  not  exist,  though 
recent  events  show  that  the  state  department  of  education  intends  to  discriminate 
against  the  Jews  in  the  future. 


40  MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION  IN  GERMANY 

1.  To  determine  the  general  principles  according  to  which 
the  poor  law  is  to  be  administered,  and  to  direct  and  supervise 
the  conduct  of  the  business  of  the  district  commissions,  and  to 
perform  the  same  functions  in  case  of  the  various  institutions 
intrusted  to  its  charge. 

2.  To  grant  relief,  so  far  as  the  independent  decision  of  this 
matter  is  not  intrusted  to  the  local  commissions. 

3.  To  grant  relief  in  cases  of  the  city  poor  who  have  their 
residence  in  other  districts. 

4.  To  prepare  the  budget,  to  audit  the  yearly  accounts,  and 
to  make  a  yearly  report. 

5.  To  decide  questions  on  appeal  from  decisions  of  the  local 
commissions. 

6.  To  care  for  the  property  of  the  poor-law  board  and  for  the 
various  foundations  intrusted  to  its  charge. 

7.  To  represent  the  poor  district  in  its  relation  to  other  poor 
districts. 

8.  To  collect  the  sums  due  to  it  from  other  poor  districts 
for  relief  accorded  to  their  poor. 

9.  To  purchase  clothing,  fuel,  and  other  necessary  supplies 
for  persons  who  are  receiving  either  outdoor  or  indoor  relief 
from  the  city. 

10.  To  decide  upon  the  admission  of  persons  into  the  local 
hospitals,  or  into  educational,  sanitary,  or  other  asylums  outside 
of  the  city. 

1 1.  To  maintain  an  intimate  connection  and  intercourse  with 
the  directors  of  the  various  local  charitable  organizations. 

12.  To  dispose  of  any  other  business  connected  with  the 
support  of  the  poor,  which  is  intrusted  to  it  by  the  administra- 
tive board. 

The  board  is  authorized,  within  the  limits  of  its  jurisdiction, 
to  issue  independent  ordinances  and  public  notices.  It  does  not 
need  either  the  approval  of  the  administrative  board  or  the 
consent  of  the  city  council  in  order  to  prosecute  suits,  or  to  make 
contracts,  or  to  make  compromises  in  regard  to  the  support  of 
the  poor  from  other  districts,  or  in  regard  to  the  support  of  its 


ORGANIZATION  OF  THE  CITY  G0VERNMEN7  41 

own  poor  in  other  districts.     The  financial  needs  of  the  poor-law 
board  are  met  from  the  following  sources  : 

1.  From  the  proceeds  of  city  property  which  is  set  aside  for 
this  particular  purpose,  and  the  proceeds  of  any  projjcrty  left  by 
private  individuals  for  the  same  purpose. 

2.  By  fines,  penalties,  and  fees  which  are  appropriated  by 
law  for  this  purpose. 

3.  By  presents  and  donations;  but  if  such  gifts  are  con- 
nected with  any  burdens  or  obligations  on  the  part  of  the  city, 
the  approval  of  the  administrative  board  and  the  consent  of  the 
city  council   must  first  be  obtained  before  they  can  be  accepted. 

4.  By  an  appropriation  made  by  the  city  for  the  support  of 
the  poor. 

The  board  must  make  out  an  annual  budget,  indicating  all 
the  sources  of  its  revenue  and  the  purposes  of  its  expenditure, 
which  must  also  include  the  appropriation  made  by  the  city  for 
the  support  of  the  poor.  This  budget  must  be  approved  by  the 
administrative  board  and  the  city  council,  and  the  poor-law 
board  is  then  bound  to  keep  within  it. 

For  the  purpose  of  giving  relief  to  the  poor,  the  city  is 
divided  into  twenty-three  poor  districts  —  a  number  which  is 
fixed  by  the  city  authorities  on  the  proposal  of  the  poor-law 
board.  These  poor  districts  are  administered  by  so-called  poor- 
district  commissioners.  These  consist  of  a  chairman,  a  vice- 
chairman,  and  a  number  of  visitors.  The  choice  of  members  is 
made  for  the  term  of  six  years  by  the  city  council  upon  the 
nomination  of  the  poor-law  board.  The  number  of  the  same  is 
fixed  according  to  the  size  of  the  district.  The  principle  is  to 
be  observed  that,  as  a  rule,  five  and  never  more  than  ten  families 
shall  be  under  the  care  of  one  visitor.  Membership  in  these 
commissions  is  a  so-called  honorary  office.  Every  citizen  is 
required  to  accept  an  election  to  this  board  and  perform  its 
duties  in  case  he  be  chosen  to  it.  It  is  the  business  of  members 
of  these  local  boards  to  make  themselves  thoroughly  acquainted 
with  the  condition  of  the  poor  intrusted  to  their  care,  by  a 
continuous,   careful,  and   personal   examination,  and    to  try  by 


42  MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION  IN  GERMANY 

personal  intercourse  with  them  to  improve  their  morality,  their 
industry,  and  their  economy,  to  help  them  with  advice,  and  in 
every  way  to  strive  to  bring  them  to  such  a  point  that  poor 
relief  will  no  longer  be  necessary.  They  must  exert  themselves 
to  find  out  what  people  may  be  suffering  in  their  district,  espe- 
cially those  who  may  be  kept  from  a  feeling  of  shame  from 
applying  for  relief.  These  local  commissions  have  charge  of  the 
granting  of  every  kind  of  assistance  for  the  support  of  the  poor, 
in  cash  and  in  kind,  within  the  limits  set  for  them  in  the  budget, 
and  according  to  the  principles  laid  down  by  the  general  laws 
and  ordinances  of  the  state  and  city  and  by  the  regulations  of 
the  poor-law  board.  They  may  prescribe  free  medical  attend- 
ance, free  medicine,  and  other  remedial  means.  They  may 
grant  the  necessary  expenses  for  burial,  and  they  are  intrusted 
with  the  carrying  out  of  the  orders  of  the  poor-law  board  and  of 
the  administrative  board.  Individual  members  of  these  com- 
missions may  grant  temporary  relief  in  cases  of  extreme 
necessity,  reporting  the  case  to  the  meeting  of  the  district 
commission,  which  is  held  regularly  twice  every  month,  and  as 
much  oftener  as  the  chairman  of  the  district  may  consider 
necessary.  Relief  is  extended  as  a  rule  only  from  one  session 
to  another.  All  outdoor  relief  to  persons  entitled  by  the  fact  of 
having  a  settlement  to  public  relief  within  the  city  of  Halle  is 
extended  through  these  district  commissions.  The  poor-law 
board  itself  has  charge  of  the  indoor  relief  accorded  in  the 
public  hospitals,  asylums,  etc.  The  city  has  an  arrangement 
with  the  university  hospitals  by  which  they  care  for  most  of  the 
city  poor  who  need  medical  attention.  In  this  way  the  univer- 
sity clinics  secure  ample  material,  and  the  care  for  the  sick  poor 
costs  the  city  relatively  little.  In  fact,  the  city  is  thus  relieved 
from  the  necessity  of  maintaining  a  great  city  hospital,  though 
it  supports  one  at  present  capable  of  caring  for  about  one 
hundred  and  fifty  patients. 

It  will  be  seen  that  in  general  the  system  of  poor-law  admin- 
istration adopted  in  the  city  of  Halle  is  that  known  as  the  Elber- 
feld  system.     It  is  distinguished  by  the  attempt  to  secure  some 


ORGANIZATION  OF  THE  CITY  GOVERNMENT  43 

personal  relation  between  the  applicants  for  poor  relief  and 
honorable  and  independent  citizens  acting  as  members  and 
agents  of  the  poor-law  board.  In  the  twenty-three  poor  districts 
during  the  year  1898-99,  272  persons  acted  as  chairmen  of  these 
district  commissions  or  as  visitors  of  the  poor.  Of  these,  ten 
had  served  as  members  of  these  commissions  for  more  than 
twenty-five  years.  Over  two  hundred  had  served  for  a  term  of 
four  years  or  longer,  and  over  one  hundred  for  a  term  of  eight 
years  or  longer,  so  that  the  average  experience  of  members 
of  these  commissions  was  very  considerable.  Of  the  272,  45 
were  professional  men  —  physicians,  professors,  teachers,  public 
officials,  etc.;  75,  manufacturers  and  merchants;  132,  con- 
tractors, master-mechanics,  and  other  tradesmen. 

The  member  of  the  administrative  board  appointed  by' the 
mayor  as  chairman  of  the  poor-law  board  is  ordinarily  the 
director  of  the  entire  system  of  the  poor-law  administration  in 
the  city.  The  combination  of  expert  knowledge  and  profes- 
sional skill  and  of  lay  co-operation,  so  characteristic  of  the 
system  of  local  government  in  Prussia,  is  nowhere  better  illus- 
trated than  in  this  organization  of  the  system  of  poor  relief. 

The  city  of  Halle  holds  in  trust  a  very  considerable  sum  of 
money  and  other  kinds  of  property  for  the  benefit  of  the  poor 
and  needy  within  the  city  limits.  It  is  a  striking  and  inter- 
esting fact  that  citizens  of  Halle,  desiring  to  leave  money  for 
purposes  of  this  kind,  are  far  more  apt  to  intrust  it  to  the 
administration  of  the  city  authorities  than  they  are  to  create 
special  boards  of  trustees,  as  is  the  rule  in  our  own  country.  It 
is  a  testimony  at  once  to  the  confidence  of  the  average  citizen 
in  the  efficiency  and  honesty  of  the  public  authorities,  and  to 
the  skill  and  efficiency  of  these  authorities  themselves.  Some 
of  these  foundations  are  of  very  considerable  importance. 
Taken  together  they  represent  a  property  of  some  eight  million 
marks,  or  two  million  dollars  —  a  very  considerable  sum  for  a 
city  of  125,000  inhabitants.  If  the  city  of  Chicago  had  a  pro- 
portional sum,  it  would  exceed  thirty  millions  of  dollars.  The 
effort   is    made   to    secure  a  hearty  co-operation    between    the 


44  MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION  IN  GERMANY 

system  of  public  administration  for  the  support  of  the  poor  and 
private  relief.  The  diflficulties  are,  however,  here  as  elsewhere, 
very  great,  and  while  they  are  on  the  whole  as  satisfactorily 
solved  in  Halle,  perhaps,  as  in  cities  of  a  similar  size  elsewhere, 
the  condition  is  still  not  altogether  satisfactory.  One  impor- 
tant concession  has  been  made  by  the  union  of  all  the  organiza- 
tions for  private  poor  relief,  in  that  they  have  bound  themselves 
not  to  extend  aid  to  persons  who  have  not  obtained  a  settlement 
within  the  city.  Formerly  it  was  the  custom  of  paupers  who 
desired  to  obtain  a  settlement  within  the  city  to  apply  to  private 
organizations  during  the  first  two  years  of  their  residence  within 
the  city,  and  then,  having  acquired  such  residence,  which  would 
not  be  possible  if  they  had  received  public  support  during  that 
period,  they  became  from  that  time  on  a  burden  upon  the  public 
poor  rates.  The  arrangement  just  noted  enables  the  city  to 
hold  other  poor  districts  responsible  for  the  support  of  the 
poor  whom  they  send  away  or  who  come  to  Halle  of  their  own 
accord. 

As  an  illustration  of  a  third  of  these  subordinate  boards  or 
commissions,  working  under  the  supervision  of  the  administrative 
board,  I  shall  take  the  gas  and  water  commission,  which  has 
charge  of  the  gas-  and  water-works  owned  and  managed  by  the 
city.  This  commission  consists  of  eight  members  —  two  mem- 
bers of  the  administrative  board,  five  members  of  the  city  coun- 
cil, and  the  director  of  the  gas-  and  water-works  ex-officio.  One 
of  the  members  of  the  administrative  board  appointed  to  this 
commission  must  be  the  city  engineer.  The  term  of  office  of 
the  members  appointed  by  the  city  council  is  three  years.  The 
director  of  the  gas-  and  water-works  is  an  advisory  member  of 
the  board,  with  the  right  to  take  part  in  all  its  deliberations 
except  those  concerning  his  own  personal  affairs,  such  as  salary, 
etc.  The  gas  and  water  commission  is  required  to  make  a 
report  each  year  to  the  administrative  board,  concerning  the 
working  of  the  department  intrusted  to  its  supervision  and  con- 
trol. It  must  also  prepare  the  budget,  which,  besides  provid- 
ing for  the  costs  of  the  running  expenses  and  the  maintenance 


ORGANIZATION  OF  THE  CITY  GOVERNMENT  45 

of  the  works,  shall  also  provide  for  a  renewal  fund,  which  is  to 
be  kept  separate,  and  the  interest  of  which  is  to  be  added  to 
the  capital.  The  commission  has  charge  of  the  expenditure  of 
all  funds  granted  by  the  city  authorities  in  the  budget,  or  by 
extra  appropriation  in  accordance  with  the  provisions  of  such 
grants.  The  commission  may  also  determine  the  price  for  the 
materials  needed  in  the  works,  for  the  various  kinds  of  labor 
to  be  performed  in  connection  with  the  same,  and  for  the 
by-products  to  be  sold ;  but  the  city  authorities,  that  is,  the 
administrative  board  and  the  city  council,  acting  together,  may 
make  changes  in  the  prices  fixed  for  the  gas  and  water,  as  well 
as  the  discount  to  be  offered  to  the  consumer.  The  commission 
is  authorized  to  make  contracts,  to  conduct  lawsuits,  to  make 
compromises,  to  yield  or  give  up  rights,  to  strike  off  bad  debts, 
to  submit  matters  of  dispute  to  arbitration,  to  accept  commodities 
and  money,  even  from  judicial  sources  ;  in  a  word,  to  do  every- 
thing which  the  courts  might  demand  from  the  representative  of 
an  absent  party  intrusted  with  full  power  of  attorney.  Written 
documents  are  valid  for  third  parties  when  signed  by  two  members 
of  the  commission,  of  whom,  however,  one  must  be  a  member  of 
the  administrative  board  and  the  other  a  member  of  the  city 
council,  and  of  whom  one  must  be  chairman  or  vice-chairman  of 
the  commission.  The  immediate  conduct  of  the  administration 
of  the  gas-  and  water-works  within  the  limits  of  the  budget,  and 
in  accordance  with  the  provisions  of  local  ordinance  and  regula- 
tion, is  intrusted  to  the  director  of  the  same.  It  is  his  special 
duty  to  supervise  all  persons  employed  in  connection  with  these 
works,  to  keep  the  works  in  good  condition,  to  purchase  all 
materials  necessary  for  the  same,  to  supervise  all  accounts  relat- 
ing to  these  and  other  matters,  to  give  notice  to  the  commission 
of  the  probable  exhaustion  of  the  appropriations,  and  to  make 
a  full  report  at  the  end  of  the  year  concerning  the  entire  con- 
duct of  the  works.  The  previous  consent  of  the  commission  is 
necessary  for  any  contract  involving  more  than  one  thousand 
(1,000)  marks,  as  well  as  any  extension  or  change  in  the  works 
themselves.     The  appointment  of  the  director  of  the  works  and 


46  MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION  IN  GERMANY 

the  fixing  of  his  salary  are  to  be  made  by  the  city  authorities, 
to  whom  the  gas  and  water  commission  must  make  a  formal 
report  and  proposition  relating  to  this  subject.  The  actual 
administration  of  the  gas-  and  water-works  under  the  conduct 
and  control  of  the  director  shall  be  carried  out  by  the  necessary 
official  and  laboring  force,  appointed  for  this  purpose.  All  such 
persons  shall  be  engaged  at  first  by  the  gas  and  water  commis- 
sion, and  are  to  be  dismissible  at  the  pleasure  of  the  same.  The 
commission  may  propose  to  the  administrative  board  the  per- 
manent appointment  for  life  of  any  of  these  officials.  The 
assessment  of  gas  and  water  consumers  shall  be  made  in  accord- 
ance with  the  regulations  concerning  the  use  of  gas  and  water. 
A  consumer  may  appeal  to  the  commission  against  the  decision 
of  the  director. 

It  will  be  seen  that  a  very  extensive  jurisdiction  has  been 
assigned  to  this  gas-  and  water-works  commission,  at  the  same 
time  that  it  is  under  the  immediate  control  and  supervision  of 
the  administrative  board. 

In  general  it  is  evident  from  the  above  description  that, 
although  a  considerable  degree  of  independence  is  granted  to 
these  sub-commissions,  deputations,  or  boards,  as  a  matter  of 
fact,  great  care  is  taken  to  secure  a  unity  of  administration,  and 
the  possibility  of  immediate  and  direct  interference  in  the  case 
of  open  abuses  connected  with  the  administration.  Every  mem- 
ber of  the  city  council,  for  example,  has  the  right  to  ask  the 
administrative  board  why  such  and  such  abuses  or  such  and 
such  customs  exist  in  any  department  of  the  city  administration. 
It  will  not  be  a  satisfactory  answer,  ordinarily,  that  the  adminis- 
trative board  has  no  control  over  the  matter,  since  that  has  been 
assigned  by  the  law  or  local  ordinance  to  some  other  authority, 
for  in  every  individual  case  the  administrative  board  has  power 
to  examine  the  facts,  to  require  full  and  complete  reports,  and, 
if  necessary,  to  suspend  for  a  longer  or  shorter  time  the  action 
of  any  of  these  boards.  It  has,  moreover,  delegates  in  each  of 
these  boards  itself.  Great  care  is  taken  to  prevent  any  arbitrary 
action  on  the  part  of  administrative  officials  by  a  very  elaborate 


ORGANIZATION  OF  THE  CITY  GOVERNMENT  47 

system  of  appeals   from   the  decision  of  individual  officials  to 
superior  officials  or  boards. 

There  are  other  numerous  boards,  such  as  boards  for  assess- 
ment of  taxes,  trustees  of  the  city  museum,  trustees  of  the  city 
theater,  trustees  of  the  city  stock-yards  and  slaughter-houses, 
of  the  city  savings  bank,  of  the  city  markets,  of  the  city  hospital, 
of  the  city  pawn-shop,  of  the  city  fire  department,  of  the  city 
board  of  health,  of  the  city  cemeteries,  etc.  But  the  relation  of 
all  these  boards  to  the  city  authorities  in  general,  and  to  the 
administrative  board  in  particular,  is  very  much  the  same;  some 
having  a  larger  degree  of  independent  jurisdiction  than  others, 
but  all  being  subject  to  the  general  supervision  of  the  adminis- 
trative board,  and  of  the  mayor  in  particular. 

Another  important  department  of  the  city  administration  is 
the  city  civil  service,  including  the  officials  of  higher  and  lower 
rank,  appointed  for  short  terms,  for  definite  terms,  subject  to 
removal  upon  notification ;  for  indefinite  terms,  and  for  life. 
One  may  say,  on  the  whole,  that  the  tendency  is  steadily  to 
diminish  the  number  of  people  appointed  for  short  periods,  or 
those  subject  to  dismissal  upon  notification,  and  to  increase 
relatively  the  number  of  those  who  are  appointed  for  indefinite 
terms  or  for  life.  Wherever  it  is  plain  that  a  city  function  calls 
for  the  exercise  of  all  the  time  of  an  individual,  and  is  likely  to 
call  for  such  exercise  permanently,  the  tendency  is  to  provide 
for  a  life  position,  subject  to  dismissal  only  after  a  judicial 
decision  of  incapacity  or  unfaithfulness,  and  including  the  right 
to  a  pension  in  case  of  faithful  service  through  a  long  period  of 
years.  For  the  clerical  work  in  the  various  departments  a 
preliminary  education  is  required,  at  least  equal  to  that  of  grad- 
uation from  the  so-called  middle-school  (that  is,  a  school  which 
requires  the  time  from  say  the  sixth  year  until  the  sixteenth  or 
seventeenth  for  the  completion  of  its  course),  and  the  passing 
of  an  examination  conducted  by  the  mayor.  Provision  is  made 
for  a  probationary  term  of  service  and  for  a  gradual  increase  of 
salary  after  permanent  appointment,  and  the  promotion  from 
one  grade   to  another  within  the  service,  the  highest  title  for 


48  MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION  IN  GERMANY 

these  clerical  and  administrative  positions  being  that  of  "  city 
secretary."  In  general,  one  does  not  seek  to  secure  administra- 
tive efficiency  in  Prussia  by  conferring  upon  the  mayor  an 
arbitrary  power  of  appointment  or  of  dismissal ;  but  rather  by 
securing  properly  qualified  persons  for  the  civil  service  and 
protecting  them  in  their  positions  as  long  as  they  perform  their 
duties  properly. 

It  is  not  perhaps  necessary  to  go  into  a  detailed  description 
of  this  feature,  as  it  is  one  easily  understood  in  general,  and  yet 
rather  difficult  to  set  forth  in  detail  without  taking  much  more 
time  and  space  than  are  available  at  present.  One  may  charac- 
terize the  government  of  the  city  of  Halle,  from  one  point  of 
view,  as  a  form  of  government  in  which  the  routine  and  clerical 
duties  are  performed  by  an  experienced  and  permanent  force  of 
subordinate  officials;  in  which  the  important  matters  of  admin- 
istration, those  calling  for  the  exercise  of  judgment  and  discre- 
tion and  executive  ability,  are  performed  by  a  body  of  trained 
experts,  who  are  required,  however,  to  consult  with  and  secure 
the  consent  of  certain  lay  colleagues  —  the  whole  system  subject 
further  to  the  steady  supervision,  control,  examination,  and  criti- 
cism of  a  popularly  elected  body  of  city  councilmen. 

Of  course,  no  scheme  of  administration  is  ever  successful 
simply  because  it  is  well  devised  and  is  harmonious  in  all  its 
forms.  A  scheme  of  administration  is  at  best  simply  a  body 
through  which  the  spirit  works,  a  machine  through  which  the 
energy  exerts  itself.  The  real  driving  force  must  be  found  in 
the  character  of  the  community  and  of  the  agents  which  it 
selects.  The  real  motive  power  is  in  the  steam  or  electricity, 
and  the  best  devised  mechanism  or  the  most  beautiful  body  is  a 
dead  and  lifeless  thing  until  it  is  put  in  motion  by  the  energy 
or  inspired  by  the  soul.  Still  there  is  no  doubt  that  the  question 
of  a  good  or  a  better  administrative  scheme  is  one  of  great 
importance,  and  there  is  as  little  doubt,  it  seems  to  me,  that  the 
Germans  have  worked  out  in  their  scheme  of  city  administration, 
as  illustrated  in  the  above  description  of  the  government  of  the 
city  of  Halle,  a  device  which  is  in  harmony,  on  the  whole,  with 


ORGANIZATION  OF  THE  CITY  GOVERNMENT  49 

their  traditions,  their  ideas,  their  tastes,  and  their  notions,  and 
that,  on  the  whole,  it  has  worked  out,  everything  considered, 
good  results. 

This,  of  course,  is  not  saying  that  the  Germans  themselves 
are  satisfied  in  every  respect  with  the  existing  machinery  of  city 
government  or  with  the  way  in  which  this  machinery  works. 
On  the  contrary,  as  in  every  enterprising  and  thoughtful  com- 
munity, so  here,  there  is  a  continued  criticism  of  the  adminis- 
trative board  and  its  functions,  for  example,  on  the  part  of  the 
city  council  ;  of  the  city  council  and  the  manner  in  which  it 
performs  its  duties,  on  the  part  of  the  administrative  board  ;  of 
both  boards  and  the  way  in  which  they  perform  their  duties,  on 
the  part  of  the  general  public  as  a  whole.  There  is  a  dissatis- 
faction among  the  poorer  classes  of  the  community  with  the 
three-class  system  of  voting.  There  is  a  feeling,  whether  just 
or  not,  on  the  part  of  the  poorer  classes  of  the  community  that 
the  interests  of  the  well-to-do  are  kept  too  exclusively  or  too 
generally  in  mind,  that  the  interests  of  the  small  man  are  neg- 
lected or  sacrificed.  The  foreigner,  of  course,  should  exercise 
the  greatest  reserve  in  attempting  to  form  an  opinion  upon  such 
a  complicated  and  difficult  question,  and  still  greater  reserve  in 
expressing  such  opinion.  But,  on  the  whole,  I  have  been  struck 
by  the  extent  to  which  the  administration  in  the  city  of  Halle 
has  steadily  extended  the  functions  of  the  city  government 
which  may  be  supposed  to  redound  more  fully  to  the  benefit  of 
the  poorer  classes  in  society  than  to  that  of  the  wealthier.  The 
effort  has  been  steadily  made,  for  example,  to  improve  the 
elementary  schools,  and  the  improvement  in  building,  equipment, 
and  teaching  force  in  the  last  fifteen  or  twenty  years  has  been 
remarkable.  The  attempt  to  increase  and  improve  the  j^ublic 
parks  and  pleasure  grounds  of  the  people  has  been  very  notice- 
able. The  tendency  of  the  community  to  consider  the  needs 
and  wants  of  the  unfortunate,  dependent,  or  less  favorably  situ- 
ated classes  has  certainly  been  very  marked,  though  the 
attempts,  as  in  all  countries  and  under  all  conditions,  have  not 
always  been  as  successful  as  might  have  been  wished. 


50  MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION  IN  GERMANY 

One  feature  of  this  scheme  of  city  government  has  been 
very  noticeable,  and  that  is  that  under  the  circumstances  which 
have  actually  existed  in  the  city  of  Halle  during  the  last  twenty- 
five  years  the  mayor  and  the  administrative  board  have  consti- 
tuted an  active,  progressive,  if  not  aggressive  and  radical, 
element,  in  a  positive  city  policy,  looking  toward  steady 
improvement  of  city  conditions  in  every  direction.  The  present 
head  mayor,  who  has  occupied  his  position  for  some  eighteen 
years,  and  the  present  mayor,  who  has  just  closed  the  first 
twenty-five  years  of  his  activity  as  a  member  of  the  board,  as 
well  as  the  other  salaried  members  of  this  board,  are  men  who, 
not  only  by  their  preliminary  training,  but  by  their  experience 
in  similar  positions  in  other  cities  are  thoroughly  acquainted 
with  the  best  things  that  are  doing  in  cities  that  are  similarly 
situated  in  Prussia,  and  are  determined,  as  far  as  possible,  to 
introduce  every  new  improvement  as  rapidly  as  the  community 
is  ripe  for  it.  My  first  visit  to  the  city  of  Halle  was  made  in 
the  year  1875,  and  the  revolution  which  has  taken  place  in 
municipal  conditions  since  that  time  is  something  little  short  of 
marvelous.  The  growth  of  the  city  in  wealth  and  population, 
which  has  been  a  result,  of  course,  largely  of  external  rather 
than  internal  conditions,  has  been  accompanied  by  marvelous 
improvements  in  all  departments  of  city  life,  a  greater  improve- 
ment, I  think  one  may  say  without  any  exaggeration,  than  was 
shown  in  the  previous  century  and  a  half  of  the  history  of  the 
city.  Of  course,  this  is  itself  largely  an  outgrowth  of  modern 
conditions,  with  which  the  city  of  Halle  has  had  little  or  nothing 
to  do  ;  conditions  which  are  at  work,  not  only  in  Prussia  and 
Germany,  but  in  P'rance,  England,  and  America;  conditions 
which  have  revolutionized  in  many  directions  the  outward 
aspect  and  the  inner  constitution  of  large  cities  the  world  over ; 
but,  at  any  rate,  this  city  has  kept  pace  with  the  progress  thus 
outlined  and  made  possible  by  outside  forces.  The  introduction 
of  a  more  liberal  and  better  supply  of  water ;  the  regeneration  of 
the  city  gas-works,  and  the  steady  reduction  in  the  price  of  what 
has  become  almost  a  necessary  of  life  ;  the  introduction  of  a  city 


ORGANIZATION  OF  THE  CITY  GOVERNMENT  51 

electric  plant,  now  building;  the  establishment  of  a  city  stock- 
yard and  slaughter-house;  the  introduction  of  a  general  sewer 
system,  with  all  which  that  implies  ;  the  breaking  through  of  new 
streets  in  the  old  part  of  the  town  and  the  widening  of  other 
streets;  the  repaying  of  the  entire  system,  both  in  the  roadway 
and  in  the  sidewalks ;  the  establishment  of  a  city  pawn-shop,  a 
city  savings  bank ;  the  improvement  of  the  police  system  and 
fire  department ;  the  marvelous  improvement  in  the  school  facil- 
ities of  the  elementary  grade,  and  to  a  large  extent  of  the 
higher,  and  the  improvement  in  the  administration  of  poor 
relief  —  these  are  things  which  have  grown  out  of  a  positive  and 
progressive  policy  on  the  part  of  the  city  authorities.  Side  by 
side  with  this  has  gone  a  marvelous  improvement  in  the  matter 
of  railroad  facilities  —  steam  and  electric;  the  introduction  of 
the  surface  electric  car,  which  Halle  was  the  first  city  in 
Germany  to  introduce  on  a  large  scale ;  the  connection  of  the 
city  with  all  the  surrounding  villages  by  steam  or  electric  tram- 
ways ;  the  extending  use  of  gas  and  electricity  for  power  pur- 
poses; the  adoption  of  a  more  liberal  building  law.  All  these 
things  indicate  the  lines  along  which  local  improvement  has 
proceeded,  here  as  in  other  cities  of  Europe  and  America.  The 
experience  collected  by  German  cities  in  these  various  depart- 
ments is  well  worth  the  study  of  persons  interested  in  municipal 
government  the  world  over. 


CHAPTER  II. 
Gas  and  Electricity. 

Regeneration  of  the  German  city  dates  from  the  fifties  of 
the  last  century.  It  was  then  that,  owing  to  the  growth  of  cities 
and  to  the  general  industrial,  political,  and  social  development 
of  Germany,  a  new  and  more  imperative  demand  for  extended 
and  better  supplies  of  certain  necessities  of  life  revealed  itself 
in  nearly  all  progressive  communities  alike.  Thus,  the  cities 
were  compelled  to  provide,  generally  speaking,  for  a  more  ade- 
quate and  a  more  satisfactory  supply  of  water,  due  partly  to  an 
increase  in  population  and  partly  to  a  higher  social  standard  as 
to  what  adequacy  and  quality  in  this  respect  consisted  in. 

To  provide  this  new  water  supply,  however,  it  was  necessary 
to  make  large  expenditures  —  much  larger  than  could  be  pro- 
vided for  out  of  the  current  income  or  current  taxes  of  these 
communities.  The  municipal  financial  system  had  not  been  so 
fully  developed  that  it  was  easy  to  borrow  money  at  low  rates 
for  this  purpose,  and  consequently  very  many  of  the  German 
cities  were  compelled  to  intrust  the  provision  of  this  necessity 
of  life  to  the  management  and  control  of  private  companies.  It 
was  no  uncommon  thing,  therefore,  to  find  German  cities  con- 
ferring extensive  privileges  upon  private  water  companies  — 
privileges  which  in  many  instances  have  but  just  begun  to  expire. 
In  nearly  all  cases  the  cities  reserved  to  themselves  the  right, 
under  certain  conditions,  of  taking  over  the  water  supply  upon 
payment  of  certain  sums  to  the  private  companies.  The  experi- 
ence of  the  cities  with  these  private  companies  was,  on  the 
whole,  so  unsatisfactory  that  those  which  had  taken  up  with  this 
method  in  the  forties  and  fifties  soon  made  strenuous  efforts  to 
get  rid  of  the  private  system  and  replace  it  by  public  construc- 
tion, ownershij),  and  management.  The  cities  which  in  the  six- 
ties and  seventies  took  up  the  question  for  the  first  time  decided 
in  most  cases  in  favor  of  public  water-works.     As  a  consequence, 

52 


GAS  AND  ELECTRICITY  53 

today  nearly  all  German  cities  own  and  manage  their  own  water- 
works. Private  companies  exist  only  under  exceptional  condi- 
tions-—  usually  where  the  cities,  owing  to  the  shortsightedness 
of  previous  administrations,  have  bound  themselves  to  greater 
sacrifices  in  case  they  desire  to  obtain  the  control  of  the  water- 
works than  on  the  whole  they  have  been  able  or  willing  to  make. 
But  it  is  certainly  true  that  everywhere  in  Germany  the  principle 
is  now  generally  accepted  that  cities  should  own  and  operate 
their  own  water-works  entirely. 

The  case  is  not  altogether  so  clear,  perhaps,  in  the  matter  of 
the  supply  of  gas.  The  improvements  in  the  processes  of 
manufacturing  gas  made  it  a  feasible  thing  for  most  com- 
munities to  provide  for  the  introduction  of  this  luxury,  which 
has  now,  one  may  say,  become  a  necessity  of  life,  in  the  forties 
and  fifties.  The  same  may  be  said  of  the  early  attempts  to  pro- 
vide for  a  supply  of  gas  as  has  been  above  remarked  relative  to 
water  supplies.  The  cities  were  in  many  cases  unable  to  provide 
the  necessary  funds  for  establishing  public  gas-works.  Their 
administrations  were  very  conservative  and  unwilling  to  take 
any  great  risks,  and  as  a  consequence  the  prevailing  system 
during  the  fifties  and  sixties  in  Germany  was  that  of  intrusting 
this  business  to  the  ownership  and  control  of  private  companies. 
But  here  the  same  tendency  has  made  itself  manifest  to  an 
increasing  extent  with  every  passing  year,  until  the  system  of 
public  ownership  and  control,  if  not  quite  so  uniformly  in  the 
case  of  gas-works  as  in  the  case  of  water-works,  has  still  come 
to  be  accepted  as  the  proper  and  common  one.  In  the  year 
1896,  for  example,  375  cities,  large  and  small,  in  Germany 
owned  and  managed  their  own  gas-works.  Of  these,  120  had 
tried  the  system  of  private  works  in  the  first  instance,  but  had 
gone  over  subsequently,  at  very  considerable  sacrifice  in  the 
way  of  large  payments  to  private  companies,  to  the  method  of 
city  works.  So  that  one  can  say,  generally  speaking,  that  the 
principle  of  public  ownership  and  management  of  gas-works  is 
coming  to  be  as  generally  accepted  in  Germany  as  that  of  the 
public  ownership  and  management  of  water-works. 


54  MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION  IN  GERMANY 

The  introduction  of  electricity  is  still  so  recent  that  it  is 
difficult  to  determine  in  any  positive  way  what  is  the  present 
tendency,  taking  the  empire  as  a  whole.  I  can  only  express  it, 
therefore,  as  my  opinion,  based  upon  such  information  as  I  have 
been  able  to  collect,  that  the  tendency  to  the  public  ownership 
and  management  of  electric  plants  is  quite  as  marked,  though 
not  by  any  means  so  fully  developed,  as  in  the  case  of  the  other 
departments  above  mentioned.  This  is  destined  to  be  of  even 
greater  significance  for  certain  phases  of  municipal  administra- 
tion than  either  water  or  gas.  Where  cities  own  and  manage 
their  own  gas-works,  it  is  evident  that  they  must  also  own  and 
manage  their  own  electric  plants,  if  they  are  to  prevent  a  very 
serious  and  perhaps  injurious  competition  with  their  system  of 
gas-works.  And  it  is  my  opinion  that  cities  will  either  have  to 
sell  their  gas-works  to  private  companies,  or  else  establish  and 
maintain  electric  plants  which  can  be  worked  in  harmony  and 
co-operation  with  the  gas-works. 

If  cities  establish,  generally  speaking,  great  electric  plants, 
the  question  of  the  relation  of  the  city  to  the  street-car  system 
will  assume  a  new  phase.  Most  of  the  German  cities  have  either 
constructed  the  roadways  of  these  street-car  lines  themselves  or 
own  them,  even  though  they  were  constructed  by  private  companies. 
If  they  now  establish  great  electric  plants  which  will  have  practi- 
cally the  monopoly  of  the  furnishing  of  electricity  for  lighting 
and  power  purposes,  it  will  be  a  comparatively  small  step  from 
furnishing  electricity  to  the  street-car  companies  as  traction 
power  on  their  lines  to  taking  over  these  street-car  lines  them- 
selves. There  are  certainly  very  pronounced  tendencies  of  this 
sort  in  nearly  all  German  cities,  and  these  tendencies  are  des- 
tined, in  my  opinion,  to  become  even  more  marked  than  they 
are  at  present. 

SOCIALIZATION    OF    PUBLIC    SERVICES. 

One  other  circumstance  of  a  general  nature  should  perhaps  be 
mentioned  before  passing  on  to  the  detailed  discussion  of  the  sub- 
ject in  hand.  The  policy  of  German  cities  in  regard  to  these  three 
necessities  or  conveniences  of  life  has  been  dominated  to  some 


GAS  AND  ELECTRICITY  55 

extent  by  different  principles,  owing  to  the  different  purposes 
which  were  primarily  in  view  in  the  construction  of  these  works.' 

The  water-works  were  established  primarily  to  provide  an 
abundant  and  healthful  supply  of  water  for  private  individuals, 
more  especially  for  domestic  consumption.  The  importance  of 
a  liberal  supply  of  water,  however,  as  an  element  in  public 
administration,  for  the  purpose  of  sprinkling  and  cleaning  the 
streets,  for  flushing  the  sewers,  etc.,  and  as  an  aid  to  industry, 
have  both  grown,  relatively  speaking,  with  great  rapidity  during 
the  last  generation.  As  a  consequence,  water-works  would 
probably  be  kept  up  now  for  the  sake  of  industry  and  for  the 
sake  of  public  health  alone,  irrespective  of  their  relation  to  pri- 
vate convenience ;  but  the  fact  that  they  were  established  in 
the  first  instance,  not  so  much  for  the  benefit  of  the  public 
administration  in  general  as  for  that  of  private  individuals  and 
in  the  interest  of  public  health,  has  had  a  very  pronounced  influ- 
ence upon  the  policy  shown  in  managing  these  water-works  and 
upon  the  tariff  of  charges  for  the  use  of  water. 

The  establishment  of  gas-works  by  the  cities,  on  the  contrary, 
sprang  in  large  part  from  the  necessity  which  the  cities  had 
begun  to  feel  of  a  better  system  of  public  lighting.  It  would 
hardly  have  been  possible  for  the  gas-works  to  have  been  estab- 
lished so  early  in  the  history  of  these  communities,  if  it  had  not 
been  that  the  city  would  itself,  for  purposes  of  public  adminis- 
tration, be  a  large  consumer  of  the  product  of  these  works.  As 
a  matter  of  fact,  it  has  continued  to  the  present  time  to  be  the 
largest  single  consumer,  and  in  many  cases  consumes  nearly  as 
much  as  all  the  other  consumers  put  together.  The  feeling  that 
gas  was  a  luxury,  or  at  most  a  convenience,  of  life  led  the  cities 
to  adopt  a  system  of  management  which  has  distinguished  it 
very  clearly  from  that  of  water-works.     Generally  speaking,  the 

'  The  following  leading  cities  of  Germany  own  and  operate  their  own  electric 
plants:  Barmen,  Breslau  (373,163),  Bremen,  Cassel,  Dantsic  (125,505),  Dortmund, 
Dresden,  Diisseldorf,  Elberfeld,  Hannover  (209,535),  Cologne  (321,563),  Konigsberg, 
Krefeld,  Lvibeck,  Mayence,  Nuremberg,  Chemnitz,  Frankfurt  (229,279). 

The  city  of  Frankfurt  took  over  April  i,  1900,  the  entire  system  of  street  railways, 
to  be  operated  by  electricity  from  the  city  works. 


5 6  MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION  IN  GERMANY 

element  of  net  profit,  the  idea  of  securing  a  net  income  for  the 
use  of  the  city  from  the  management  of  these  works,  has  been 
an  important  one  in  the  control  and  management  of  all  the  pub- 
lic gas-works  of  Germany.  As  a  result,  what  may  be  called  the 
social  point  of  view,  that  is,  the  view  which  looks  upon  gas  as  such 
a  great  convenience  of  life  that  its  general  use  is  to  be  desired 
in  the  interest  of  an  advancing  civilization  and  an  advancing 
ease  and  refinement  of  life,  and  that  consequently  financial  sac- 
rifices may  be  made  for  this  purpose,  is  a  view  which  has  only 
very  slowly  succeeded  in  making  way  into  the  minds  of  the 
managers  of  public  gas-works  in  Germany.  As  a  result,  gener- 
ally speaking,  the  prices  have  been  kept  high,  the  facilities  for 
the  use  of  gas  have  been  rather  meager,  and  comparatively  little 
effort  has  been  made  to  enlarge  the  consumption. 

Something  of  the  same  thing  was  true  in  the  establishment 
of  electric  works.  Here  it  was  possible  for  the  city  to  establish 
a  small  plant  for  furnishing  light  exclusively  for  city  purposes, 
such  as  the  lighting  of  public  buildings,  etc.,  upon  a  basis  which 
made  it  fairly  profitable  for  the  city,  irrespective  of  the  number 
of  private  consumers  who  might  take  part  in  the  support  of  such 
works.  And  it  is  quite  possible  that  cities  would  have  con- 
tented themselves  with  the  erection  of  small  plants  for  providing 
in  this  way  the  light  desired  for  public  offices  and  public  illumi- 
nation, without  attempting  to  create  a  market  for  electricity  in 
the  mass  of  the  public,  if  it  had  not  been  that  the  ever  more 
imperative  demand  for  electricity  for  purposes  of  lighting  and 
power  on  the  part  of  private  individuals  began  to  create  a  very 
sharp  and  severely  felt  competition  with  the  products  of  city 
gas-works.  Then  the  cities  began  to  recognize  that  something 
of  the  same  course  of  development  would  surely  follow  in  the 
case  of  electric  plants  as  in  the  case  of  gas  and  water. 

It  was  impossible  for  cities  to  erect  gas-works  for  the  pur- 
pose of  furnishing  gas  to  the  city  administration  for  city  pur- 
poses at  a  reasonable  price,  unless  a  large  number  of  private 
consumers  could  also  be  obtained  whose  consumption  would 
help    decrease    the    expense.     Consequently  the    cities,  in    the 


GAS  AND  ELECTRICITY  57 

management  of  the  works,  were  compelled  to  have  some  refer- 
ence to  the  needs  of  private  consumers.  In  the  case  of  electric 
works  it  was  necessary  for  the  city  to  furnish  electricity  to  pri- 
vate consumers,  if  it  was  to  avoid  ruinous  competition  with  its 
own  system  of  gas-works,  and  thus,  generally  speaking,  gas  and 
electricity,  from  being  looked  upon  as  articles  of  luxury,  have 
become  first  articles  of  convenience  and  finally  articles  of  neces- 
sity, and  cities  are  now  everywhere  recognizing  that  there  is  a 
social  advantage,  an  industrial  advantage,  to  be  found  in  a  lib- 
eral and  cheap  supply  of  gas  and  electricity,  offered  on  the  most 
favorable  terms  to  every  individual  in  the  community.  As  a 
result  of  the  recognition  of  this  fact,  there  has  come  into  the 
management  of  all  public  works  of  this  sort  in  Germany  within 
the  last  few  years  an  entirely  new  spirit,  which  is  destined  to 
work  out  the  most  far-reaching  results.  Men  are  beginning  to 
see  that  the  supply  of  power  at  low  rates  to  the  small  man  in 
the  most  remote  cities  of  the  empire  means  an  increase  of  the 
power  of  Germany  as  a  whole  to  compete  with  the  foreigners  in 
the  world's  market  upon  the  most  favorable  terms.  The  fact 
that  a  city  offers  such  facilities  is,  of  course,  a  very  great 
inducement  to  people  who  need  power  in  the  working  of  their 
industries,  who  need  it  in  small  quantities  and  at  low  prices,  to 
settle  in  these  particular  places  rather  than  in  others  in  Ger- 
many. The  fact  that  such  facilities  are  offered  in  Germany  is 
significant  for  modern  world-industry,  and  in  proportion  to  the 
extent  to  which  they  are  offered  does  Germany  as  a  whole 
become  a  more  important  element  in  the  world-market  in  every 
department  of  manufacture. 

So  much  for  what  may  be  called  the  general  course  of  devel- 
opment on  this  subject  in  Germany.  Without  being  able  to 
establish  the  proposition  within  the  limits  of  such  a  work  as  this, 
I  think  I  may  lay  it  down  as  true,  without  fear  of  successful  con- 
tradiction, that  the  tendency  in  Germany  is  steadily  and  rapidly 
toward  public  construction,  ownership,  and  management  of  all 
water-works,  gas-works,  electric  plants,  and  street  railways,  and 
that  on   the  whole   the   policy   underlying  the   management   of 


58  MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION  IN  GERMANY 

these  different  departments  of  public  administration  is  that  of 
lowering  the  prices  and  increasing  the  facilities  in  the  interest  of 
a  larcrer  and  healthful  life,  in  the  interest  of  an  advancing  indus- 
try,  and  in  the  interest  of  improvement  of  higher  social  condi- 
tions. This  tendency  is  fairly  represented  in  the  history  of  the 
city  of  Halle  in  these  matters. 

I. 

ESTABLISHMENT  AND  DEVELOPMENT  OF  THE  GAS-WORKS. 

As  the  result  of  an  agitation  extending  over  several  years  in 
the  early  and  middle  part  of  the  fifties  in  the  last  century,  the 
city  administration,  after  having  secured  the  promise  of  a  large 
number  of  citizens  to  take  gas  at  a  certain  price  and  in  a  certain 
quantity  from  the  public  works,  received  the  consent  of  the 
superior  administrative  authorities  to  construct  and  operate  a 
system  of  city  works.  The  land  was  purchased  for  this  pur- 
pose, a  public  loan  was  contracted,  and  the  works  were  erected 
and  went  into  operation  on  December  14,  1856.  They  have 
been  continuously  in  operation  from  that  date  to  the  present, 
and,  although  the  experience  of  the  city  during  the  first  two 
years  was  rather  unfortunate,  still  there  has  never  been  any 
serious  proposition  to  hand  over  this  department  of  public 
administration  to  any  private  company.  The  works  have  been 
gradually  extended;  the  consumption  of  the  city  has  grown, 
not  only  with  the  population,  but  relatively  much  faster  than 
the  population,  the  latter  having  increased  less  than  three- 
fold, while  the  former  increased  more  than  nine-fold,  in  the 
thirty-five  years  from  1862  to  1897.  Whatever  charges  may  be 
made  against  the  administration  of  the  city  gas-works,  it  cannot 
be  denied  that  after  they  were  fairly  at  work  they  have  been 
administered  with  honesty  and  efficiency,  within  the  limits  of 
the  principles  adopted  by  the  city ;  but  one  may  criticise  at 
more  points  than  one  the  principles  laid  down  by  the  city  within 
which  the  works  were  to  be  administered. 

The  following  tables  set  forth  the  growth  of  the  works  dur- 
ing the  forty  years — 1856-97 — by  five-year  periods;  and  the 
recent  growth  by  years  : 


GAS  AND  ELECTRICITY 


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6o  MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION  IN  GERMANY 

TABLE  C.     FINANCIAL  ACCOUNTS'  (1856-97). 
(March  31,  1897,  $482,058  book  value  of  plant.) 


Period. 

Sinking  Fund. 

Profits  Paid  into 
City  Treasury. 

Cost  of  Works 
AND  Extensions. 

Depreciation 

Fund. 

1856-62 
1862-67 
1867-72 
1872-77 
1877-82 
1882-87 
1887-92 
1892-99 

$20,633 
56,543 
19,271 

22,579 

62,006 

70,275 
43,631 

22,606 

$  64,703 
94.738 
158,940 
174,642 
299.587 
356,047 

$183,190 

21,596 

6,994 

70,584 

152,471 

55.255 

285,879 

92,769 

$    15,396 
16,101 
15.766 
19.085 
29,061 
34.278 
67,069 
106,804 

Total 

$317,544 

$1,148,657 

$868,738 

$303,561 

TABLE  U.     FINANCIAL  ACCOUNTS'  (1894-99). 


Year. 

Sinking  Fund. 

Profits  Paid  into 
City  Treasury. 

Cost  of  Works 
and  Extensions. 

Depreciation 
Fund. 

1894-95 
1895-96 
1896-97 
1897-98 
1898-99 

$4,480 
4,480 
4,480 
4.480 
7,808 

$68,155 
71,881 
75,516 
79.591 
71,913 

$805,239 
824,709 

978.534 
1,012,945 

$17,125 
19,230 
27,540 
34,187 

37.023 

The  following  table  shows  the  use  of  gas  for  cooking,  heat- 
ing, and  power  purposes  during  the  six  years  ending  March  31, 
1899: 


TABLE  E. 


Year. 

Cook'g  and  Heat'g. 
(Cubic  Meters.) 

Power. 
(Cubic  Meters.) 

Total. 
(Cubic  Meters.) 

Per  Cent. of  Total 

Amount  of  Gas 

Produced. 

1893-94 
1894-95 
1895-96 
1896-97 
1897-98 
1898-99 

53.148 
109,417 
117,920 
180,798 
230,466 
321,018 

366,543 
420,406 
499.506 
566,321 
644,171 
845,045 

529,823 
617,506 
756,119 

874.637 
1,166,063 

10.2 
II. 2 
12.8 

14.0 

16.8 

It  will  be  seen  that  the  consumption  per  head  of  the  popula- 
tion increased  during  the  last  quinquennium  from  42.75  to  51.37 
cu.  m.,  showing  a  steady  relative  increase  during  this  period. 

'  In  changing  to  American  money,  4  marks  =  $1. 


GAS  AND  ELECTRICITY  6 1 

The  present  capacity  of  the  works  is  about  47,500  cu.  m.  per 
day. 

TARIFF    OF    CHARGES. 

The  following  represents  the  course  of  prices  charged  for  gas 
in  the  city  works  of  Halle,  from  the  establishment  of  the  works 
to  the  present  time  : 

1.  Charge  to  private  consumers  per  thousand  English  cubic 
feet  for  illuminating  gas  : 

1856 Si.67 

1859 1.88 

1864 1.44 

1870 1.35 

1872 1. 21 

1898 1.08 

2.  Price  to  private  consumers  per  thousand  English  cubic 
feet  for  heating,  cooking,  and  power  purposes  : 

Up   to    1887 same  as  for  lighting. 

From  1887  to  1894 $0.91 

Since  1894 0.6739 

The  above  represents  what  may  be  called  the  normal  or  fun- 
damental prices  to  private  individuals.  A  discount  has  always 
been  allowed,  increasing  in  proportion  to  the  amount  consumed, 
varying  from  2y^  per  cent,  for  10,000  cu.  m.  or  more  up  to  25 
per  cent,  for  50,000  cu.  m,  and  more.  No  discount,  however, 
was  given  after  1887  upon  gas  used  for  heating,  cooking,  and 
power  purposes,  being  straight  So. 91  from  1887  to  1894  and 
straight  go. 6739  since  that  time.  In  the  year  1898-99  eleven 
consumers  obtained  the  25  per  cent,  rebate.  Among  these  was 
the  city,  for  all  gas  consumed  in  public  offices.  Nine  obtained 
20  percent.;  five,  15  percent.;  twenty,  10  percent.;  fifty-one, 
5  per  cent.;  two  hundred  and  seventy-six,  2}^  per  cent.  Out  of 
a  total  of  3,651,581.49  cu.  m.  sold  for  illuminating  purposes, 
2,678,915  cu.  m.  were  sold  at  discounts  varying  from  2^  per 
cent,  to  25  per  cent. 

Down  to  the  year  1887  the  city  was  obliged  to  pay  for  all 
gas  consumed   at  the  same  rate  as  private  persons,  though  its 


62  MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION  IN  GERMANY 

consumption  was  always  sufficient  to  enable  it  to  obtain  the  25 
per  cent,  discount.  From  1887  to  1898  it  obtained  gas  for  the 
purpose  of  street  lighting  at  the  rate  of  So.gi  per  thousand  cubic 
feet,  subject  to  no  discount.  This,  it  will  be  seen,  was  no  real 
reduction,  since  $1.21  less  25  per  cent.  =  So. 91.  Since  1898  it 
obtains  gas  for  the  purpose  of  street  lighting  at  So. 6739  per 
thousand  cubic  feet,  subject  to  no  discount.  That  is  to  say,  for 
gas  consumed  in  public  offices  the  city  has  always  paid  and  still 
continues  to  pay  at  exactly  the  same  rate  as  private  individuals, 
obtaining  the  largest  allowable  discount  because  its  consumption 
always  exceeds  the  largest  amount  for  which  the  discount  is 
granted.  For  purposes  of  street  lighting  it  had  the  same  terms 
down  to  1887.  After  that  it  was  given  the  same  rate  for  street 
lighting  as  private  parties  received  for  heating,  cooking,  and 
power  purposes.  The  reduction  which  was  made  to  private  par- 
ties for  heating,  cooking,  and  power  purposes,  in  1894,  was  not 
granted  to  the  city  for  street-lighting  purposes  until  the  year 
1898. 

Until  the  close  of  the  fiscal  year  1897-98,  that  is,  March 
31,  1898,  the  city  gas-works  made  a  charge  for  the  use  of 
meters,  which  constituted  for  the  small  consumer  a  very  serious 
addition  to  the  price  of  gas.  It  also  charged  the  private  con- 
sumer with  the  cost  of  connections  from  a  point  six  feet  outside 
of  the  building  line  to  the  meter  in  the  house.  This  constituted 
a  very  serious  obstacle  to  the  general  introduction  of  gas  into  the 
houses.  Beginning  with  the  first  of  April,  1898,  three  important 
concessions  were  made  in  the  matter  of  price  and  convenience  to 
the  gas  consumer.  The  price  of  gas  for  illuminating  purposes 
was  reduced,  as  will  be  seen  from  the  above  table,  from  $1.21  to 
Si. 08  per  thousand  cubic  feet.  The  city  gas-works  undertook  to 
make  connections  at  its  own  cost  up  to  and  including  the  meter, 
making  no  charge  for  the  use  of  the  latter,  provided  a  certain  mini- 
mum amount  of  gas  was  consumed.  So  that  one  may  say  now, 
what  one  could  not  say  prior  to  the  first  of  April,  1898,  that  the 
cost  of  gas  to  the  private  consumer  in  his  own  dwelling  for  illumi- 
nating purposes,  or  for  heating,  cooking,  or  power  purposes,  is  the 


GAS  AND  ELECTRICITY  63 

same  as  that  quoted   nominally  in  the  tariff  of  charges,  namely, 
$1.08  and  $0.6739  respectively. 

METHODS    OF    BOOKKEEPING. 

It  is  difficult  to  ascertain  from  the  printed  reports  of  any 
corporation  the  exact  condition  of  its  business.  It  is  still  more 
difficult,  generally  speaking,  in  the  case  of  municipal  corpora- 
tions. And  it  is  most  difficult  of  all  in  case  of  those  branches  of 
municipal  administration  which  one  may  desire  to  compare  with 
private  corporations  as  to  cost  of  the  plant,  running  expenses, 
profits,  etc.  The  books  of  the  gas-works  of  Halle  show  the 
entire  expense  of  the  works  from  the  beginning  to  the  present. 
They  show  that  the  works  have  been  compelled  to  purchase  the 
ground  upon  which  they  are  erected,  either  from  the  city  or 
from  private  parties,  and  that,  therefore,  the  cost  of  the  site  is 
included  in  the  cost  of  the  plant.  They  show,  moreover,  that 
gas  has  not  been  furnished  to  the  city  at  any  time  free  of  charge, 
but  that  it  has  had  to  pay  for  every  cubic  meter  of  gas  consumed, 
though  it  has  generally  been  placed  in  the  position  of  the  most 
favored  consumer,  owing  to  its  large  consumption.  Thus,  at 
present  the  city  pays  the  same  rate,  as  noted  above,  for  purposes 
of  street  lighting  as  the  private  consumer  pays  for  cooking, 
heating,  and  power  purposes.  It  pays  the  same  for  lighting  in 
the  offices  as  the  private  consumer  pays  for  gas  for  illuminating 
purposes.  From  1894  to  1898  the  private  consumer  was  some- 
what better  placed  in  the  matter  of  rates  for  gas  used  for 
cooking,  heating,  and  power  purposes  than  the  city  for  street 
lighting.  Just  how  much  of  a  concession  this  has  been  to  the 
city  it  is,  of  course,  difficult  to  tell,  and  the  books  do  not  show 
any  special  reckoning  or  account  of  this  item. 

No  set-off  is  noted  in  the  books  for  taxes,  corresponding  to 
the  taxes  which  a  private  corporation  would  be  obliged  to  pay, 
under  the  ordinary  rules  prescribed  for  such  companies.  The 
works  have  always  had  to  pay  a  state  tax,  under  the  head  of  the 
trade  tax,  amounting  of  late  years  to  something  like  $1,500  a 
year.     And,  although  the  proceeds  of  this  tax  are  now  handed 


64  MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION  IN  GERMANY 

over  by  the  state  to  the  city  for  municipal  uses,  this  item  of 
$1,500  a  year  for  taxes  still  appears  in  the  books.  No  item 
appears  on  the  books  corresponding  to  the  special  sum  which  a 
private  gas  company  might  be  obliged  to  pay  for  the  concession 
or  the  monopoly  right  to  furnish  gas  to  the  community.  The 
books  show  that  a  sinking  fund  has  always  been  created  when- 
ever a  debt  has  been  created,  amounting  to  at  least  i  per  cent, 
a  year.  They  also  show  that  a  renewal  fund  has  been  accumu- 
lated from  time  to  time  in  anticipation  of  the  necessity  of  recon- 
structing the  works  in  order  to  bring  them  into  harmony  with 
improved  and  advanced  conditions.  The  books  also  show  that 
very  considerable  sums  have  been  charged  to  the  depreciation 
fund  —  sums  sufficient  to  keep  the  works  in  good  condition  and, 
as  experience  has  shown,  to  provide  for  extensions  from  year  to 
year.  Aside  from  the  sinking  fund,  the  renewal  fund,  and  the 
depreciation  fund,  considerable  sums  have  been  entered  every 
year  under  the  head  of  maintenance,  which  might  have  been 
charged  to  the  capital  account. 

No  one  can  examine  these  books  without  being  convinced 
that  the  gas-works  on  the  whole  show  a  very  conservative  and 
very  sound  system  of  bookkeeping.  Thus,  if  one  deducts  from 
the  total  cost  of  the  works  the  sums  charged  off  for  deprecia- 
tion, one  obtains  a  book  value  of  2,220,241.08  marks  ($555,060) 
at  the  end  of  the  year  1898—99.  This  represents  a  very  con- 
servative estimate  of  the  present  value  of  the  works.  It  is  the 
opinion  of  the  director  of  the  works  and  others  with  whom  I 
spoke  in  the  city  that  the  works  could  be  sold  today  as  they  stand 
for  a  considerably  larger  sum  than  this  to  a  private  company, 
not  including,  of  course,  the  price  which  the  company  would  be 
willing  to  pay  for  the  franchise  or  for  the  monopoly  right  of 
furnishing  the  gas  to  the  community.  In  other  words,  the  sys- 
tem of  bookkeeping  has  been  such  as  to  make  all  proper  allow- 
ances for  depreciation  of  the  works,  and  the  sums  written  off 
each  year  have  not  only  been  sufficient  to  pay  interest  on  the 
bonded  debt,  but  also  to  accumulate  a  sinking  fund  equal  to 
retiring  the  bonds  when  they  fall  due ;  not  only  a  sum  sufficient 


GAS  AND  ELECTRICITY  65 

to  keep  the  works  in  the  present  condition,  but  also  a  sum  sufifi- 
cient  to  reconstruct  the  works  whenever  the  advance  of  science 
and  technology  should  make  this  necessary  or  desirable,  and, 
furthermore,  to  extend  every  year  by  a  considerable  amount  the 
system  of  pipes,  etc.,  connections  with  the  houses,  meters,  plant, 
etc.,  etc. 

The  net  income  of  the  works,  based  upon  the  estimate  of  the 
state  tax  commission  assessing  them  to  the  trade  tax,  was  for  the 
past  year  338,113.74  marks  ($84,528).  The  capitalized  value 
of  the  plant,  according  to  the  same  estimate,  was  2,741,815.45 
marks  ($685,454).  This  would  show  that  the  works  paid  a  divi- 
dend of  12.3  per  cent,  on  the  capital  value  of  the  plant,  or  a 
dividend  of  3  per  cent,  on  more  than  ten  millions  of  marks,  while 
the  actual  book  value,  as  shown  above,  is  less  than  two  and  a'  half 
million  marks.  Of  course,  in  this  larger  value  would  be  included 
the  value  of  the  franchise  ;  but,  even  so,  this  shows  a  very  con- 
servative estimate  of  the  value  of  the  works  in  the  accounts  of 
the  works  themselves. 

The  accounts  of  the  works  for  the  year  ending  March  31, 
1899,  show  that  the  total  income  was  1,416,1 1 1  marks  ($354,028). 
Of  this,  287,652  marks  ($71,913)  were  turned  into  the  city 
treasury,  representing  20  per  cent,  of  the  total  income  ;  90,192.20 
marks  ($22,548)  were  set  aside  for  extensions  of  the  plant,  rep- 
resenting 6  per  cent,  of  the  total  income  ;  30,000  marks  ($7,500) 
were  set  aside  for  the  renewal  fund,  representing  2  per  cent,  of 
the  total  income;  31,231  marks  ($7,808)  were  set  aside  for  the 
sinking  fund,  representing  2  per  cent,  of  the  total  income  ;  36, 1 38 
marks  ($9,034)  were  used  for  the  purchase  of  new  instruments, 
apparatus,  gas  meters,  etc.,  representing,  therefore,  an  actual 
increase  of  the  plant  to  that  amount,  equal  to  2  per  cent,  of  the 
total  income.  A  balance  was  left  on  hand  of  27,823  marks 
($6,956),  which,  together  with  the  sums  already  indicated,  made 
up  a  total  of  503,036  marks  ($125,759) ,  leaving  a  sum  of  913,075 
marks  ($228,269)  to  represent  the  current  expenses  of  the  works. 
In  this  sum,  however,  again  very  considerable  items  were  included 
for    cost    of    maintenance,    which    conception    covered    also    in 


66  MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION  IN  GERMANY 

certain  instances  actual  additions  to  the  plant.  If  we  count  the 
renewals,  extensions,  and  the  purchase  of  new  equipment,  it  will 
be  found  that  about  7  per  cent,  of  the  book  value  of  the  works 
at  the  end  of  the  preceding  year  had  been  added  to  the  plant 
during  the  current  year — 1898-99.  The  accounts  show  that 
the  works  have  written  off  during  the  past  years  an  average  of 
3  per  cent,  a  year  under  the  head  of  deterioration  to  the  account 
of  lands,  3  per  cent,  for  buildings,  10  per  cent,  for  apparatus 
(retorts,  furnaces,  etc.),  7>^  per  cent,  for  the  pipe  system,  20 
per  cent,  for  implements,  20  per  cent,  for  meters,  etc.,  etc. 
Thirty  per  cent,  was  written  off  during  the  past  year  for  house 
connections,  since,  under  the  arrangement  now  in  existence,  con- 
nections made  by  the  gas-works  within  the  property  of  the  house- 
owner  pass  into  the  possession  of  the  house-owner  himself. 
From  whatever  point  of  view,  therefore,  the  accounts  are  exam- 
ined, it  would  seem  as  if  the  gas-works  are  pursuing  a  very  con- 
servative and  safe  policy,  maintaining  the  works  in  their  present 
condition,  extending  them,  and  improving  them. 

RESULTS    OF    MUNICIPAL    OPERATION. 

If  we  sum  up  the  results  achieved  by  the  gas-works  of  the 
city  during  the  period  from  1857  to  1899,  we  should  note  espe- 
cially the  following  points  :  In  the  first  place,  the  city  now  has 
in  its  possession  and  entirely  at  its  disposal,  to  do  with  as  it 
chooses,  a  plant  for  the  manufacture  of  gas,  with  a  capacity  of 
17.327.500  cu.  m.  per  year,  with  a  capitalized  value,  after  deduct- 
ing all  debts  and  obligations  of  every  sort,  of  2,241,873  marks 
($560,468),  capable  of  paying  dividends  on  a  capital  of  from  ten 
to  twelve  millions. 

In  the  second  place,  a  plant  from  which  the  city  has  derived 
a  very  large  sum  in  net  profits,  amounting  all  told  to  more  than 
five  millions  of  marks  ($1,250,000). 

In  the  third  place,  the  city  has  enjoyed  during  all  these  years 
the  advantage  of  a  liberal  gas  supply  for  public  purposes,  street 
illumination,  and  public  offices,  at  a  price  considerably  below  the 
average  price  charged  for  gas  by  private  companies  or  cities  in 
Germany  at  large. 


GAS  AND  ELECTRICITY  67 

In  the  fourth  place,  the  private  citizens  have  had  the  advan- 
tage of  comparatively  low  prices  for  gas  during  the  entire  exist- 
ence of  the  works,  for  if  the  tariff  of  charges  made  in  Halle 
be  compared  with  that  in  other  cities,  whether  made  by  city 
works  or  private  works,  it  will  be  found  that  prices  in  Halle 
are  on  the  whole  slightly  below  those  of  cities  similarly  situated. 

The  city  has,  moreover,  the  very  great  advantage  of  being 
in  a  position  to  regulate  the  policy  of  the  gas-works  in  accord- 
ance with  its  notions  of  the  best  interests  of  the  city  and  the 
citizens,  without  having  to  pay  a  private  company  large  sums  of 
money  for  this  privilege.  How  important  this  is  may  be  seen 
from  the  recent  events  in  the  history  of  the  city  mentioned 
already  in  the  above  paragraphs.  It  was  felt  that  the  prices  of 
gas  should  be  lowered  to  the  private  consumer  and  to  the  city. 
It  would  have  been  difificult  to  have  brought  this  about  under  a 
system  of  a  private  management.  A  mere  resolution  of  the  city 
council  was  sufficient  to  accomplish  this,  beginning  with  April 
I,  1898,  and,  as  noted  above,  this  was  not  simply  a  reduction  in 
the  price  charged  for  gas,  but  it  involved  a  very  large  additional 
reduction  to  the  small  consumer,  because  at  the  same  time  the 
charge  for  meter  rent  was  practically  abolished  and  the  cost  of 
making  connections  was  assumed  by  the  gas-works. 

It  is  an  interesting  fact,  which  may  be  mentioned  in  this  con- 
nection, that  the  introduction  of  the  so-called  glow  burner,  the 
Auer  or  Welsbach  burner,  has  had  a  very  material  influence 
upon  the  course  of  prices  and  the  course  of  consumption.  The 
general  introduction  of  this  burner  enabled  the  private  consumer 
to  obtain  a  very  much  better  quality  of  light  at  a  much  lower  price, 
owing  to  the  smaller  consumption  of  gas,  than  had  been  hitherto 
possible.  This  led,  on  the  one  hand,  of  course,  to  a  certain 
reduction  in  the  amount  of  gas  consumed  for  lighting  purposes 
per  light;  but,  on  the  other  hand,  owing  to  the  very  greatly 
increased  attractiveness  of  this  light,  it  led  many  people  to  pre- 
fer the  introduction  of  gas  to  the  continued  consumption  of  coal 
oil.  An  increased  price  of  the  coal  oil  itself  was  not  without 
effect  in  stimulating  this  gas  consumption.     And,  as  said  above, 


68  MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION  IN  GERMANY 

the  competition  which  private  electric  plants  were  making  with 
the  city  works  was  so  seriously  felt  as  to  lead  the  city  to  make 
concessions  in  this  matter  which  it  might  not  formerly  have 
done. 

It  is  worthy  of  note  that  the  city  works  have  lately  adopted, 
for  the  first  time  in  their  history,  a  new  point  of  view,  namely, 
that  it  lies  in  the  interest  of  the  community  as  a  whole  to 
increase  the  consumption  of  gas,  to  supplant  the  use  of  coal, 
with  all  the  inconvenience  and  dirt  connected  with  it,  by  the  use 
of  gas  ;  and,  for  the  first  time  in  the  history  of  the  works,  during 
the  past  four  or  five  years  efforts  have  been  made  to  extend 
the  use  of  gas,  not  only  by  the  reduction  of  price  and  the  aboli- 
tion of  obstacles  to  the  introduction  of  gas,  but  by  a  positive 
recommendation  of  the  use  of  gas  to  the  public,  such  as  the 
holding  of  exhibits  of  gas  stoves,  heaters,  etc.,  and  public 
lectures  upon  the  method  of  utilizing  gas  for  cooking,  heating, 
and  power  purposes.' 

It  is,  furthermore,  a  point  not  to  be  underestimated  that  the 
city,  having  control  of  these  works,  may  furnish  gas  for  power 
purposes  at  a  rate  at  which  no  private  company  would  undertake 
to  offer  it.  This  policy  is  justifiable  because  the  existence  of  a 
cheap,  easily  divided  power  facilitates  the  development  of  many 
forms  of  industry  which  might  not  otherwise  be  so  easily  pos- 
sible. 

Whether  private  works  would  have  accomplished  the  above 
results,  or,  if  not  the  above,  other  and  more  favorable  results, 
cannot,  of  course,  be  determined  in  any  positive  way  by  an 
examination  of  the  history  and  working  of  this  municipal  enter- 
prise. But  it  is  certain  that  neither  the  city  as  a  whole,  nor 
indeed  any  individual   in  the  city  who  is   not   connected  with 

» It  should  be  stated  that  thus  far  but  little  use  of  gas  has  been  made  in  Halle  for 
the  purpose  of  illumination  in  private  houses.  Nearly  the  entire  consumption  up  to 
within  a  year  or  two  has  been  for  public  lighting  (either  streets  or  offices)  and  in  the 
shops,  factories,  stores,  banks,  etc.  The  city  works  have,  therefore,  before  them  an 
almost  unexploited  field  of  possible  consumption,  which  is  likely  to  prove  more  profit- 
able every  year  ;  though  this  very  fact,  it  must  be  admitted,  is  a  just  cause  of  reproach 
to  the  administration,  in  that  it  has  not  worked  this  field  long  before. 


GAS  AND  ELECTRICITY  69 

some  private  gas  company,  would  consider  for  an  instant  the 
advantages  which  a  private  company  might  offer  when  laid  in 
the  balance  against  those  which  the  city  works  secure.  There 
seems  to  be  an  opinion  in  Halle,  both  at  the  works  and  at  large 
in  the  city,  that  no  special  concessions  have  been  made  to  the 
laborers  at  the  works.  The  administration  has  aimed  to  pay  the 
usual  local  rate  of  wages  —  neither  more  nor  less.  The  greater 
permanence  of  employment  makes  the  work,  on  the  whole,  so 
attractive  that  they  can  have  their  pick  among  the  laborers  in 
the  community.  The  effort  is  made  to  keep  the  same  laborers 
as  long  as  possible,  and,  if  they  have  grown  old  in  the  service 
they  will  not  be  allowed  to  starve,  even  if  they  become  inca- 
pacitated for  work.  The  city  gas-works  are  subject  to  the  gen- 
eral imperial  laws  relating  to  compulsory  insurance  which  are 
applicable  to  all  employers  of  labor. 

The  latest  published  report  of  the  city  gas-works  —  that  for 
the  year  ending  March  31,  1900,  which  appeared  after  the  above 
account  was  written  —  states  that  the  rapid  increase  in  the  con- 
sumption of  gas  in  the  preceding  year,  following  the  reduction 
of  price,  had  continued  during  the  current  year.  The  total  con- 
sumption reached  the  figure  of  7,851,980  cubic  meters,  an 
increase  of  over  13  per  cent.  The  sales  to  private  consumers 
increased  in  a  still  greater  ratio,  the  total  increase  amounting  to 
1,047,304  cu.  m.,  or  more  than  20  per  cent.  Of  this  total,  365,614 
cu.  m.  fell  to  the  share  of  gas  for  illuminating  purposes,  and  68 1  ,- 
690  cu.  m.  to  that  for  heating  and  power  purposes.  Almost  half  of 
the  latter  item  is  to  be  ascribed  to  one  manufacturing  plant  using 
the  gas  for  technical  purposes.  In  view  of  this  large  consumption 
distributed  during  the  daylight  hours,  the  price  was  reduced,  for 
gas  used  for  other  than  illuminating  purposes,  from  10  pfennigs, 
theregular  price,  to  9  5^  pfennigs  in  case  100,000  cu.  m,  were  used, 
and  to  9  pfennigs  for  quantities  of  200,000  cu.  m.  and  over.  In  the 
same  way  the  number  of  consumers  has  increased  very  rapidly 
since  the  reduction  in  price  of  April  i,  1898.  The  number 
of  meters  for  illuminating  gas  increased  from  2,975  ^o  4.076. 
more  than  one-third  in   two  years.     The  meters  for  other  than 


70  MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION  IN  GERMANY 

illuminating  gas  increased  in  number  from  835  to  1,267, 
and  the  number  of  cooking  and  heating  stoves  from  740  to 
1,240. 

In  spite  of  the  decreased  average  income  per  cubic  meter  of 
gas,  owing  to  the  reduction  in  price,  the  profits  are  higher  for 
the  current  year  than  one  would  have  inferred  simply  from  the 
increased  consumption  of  gas.  The  net  profit  amounted  to 
389,470  marks,  an  increase  of  more  than  22  per  cent,  over  the 
profits  of  the  preceding  year,  which  is  to  be  attributed  partly 
to  a  lower  rate  of  leakage  and  partly  to  a  higher  price  of 
coke. 

It  is  plain  that  the  policy  of  reducing  the  price  is  thus  justi- 
fied, not  merely  from  the  standpoint  of  the  social  result,  but 
also  from  that  of  the  financial  profits  of  the  undertaking. 

II. 

THE  CITY  ELECTRIC  PLANT. 
Since  the  introduction  of  electricity  in  the  years  1887-91, 
and  the  rapidly  growing  utilization  of  the  same  for  purposes 
of  lighting  and  for  power,  German  cities  have  had  to  face  the 
question  whether  they  would  grant  to  private  companies  the 
right  to  lay  their  wires  in  the  city  streets  and  furnish  electricity  to 
private  consumers,  or  whether  they  would  undertake  the  manu- 
facture and  sale  of  electricity  themselves.  They  have  shown  a 
certain  reluctance  to  embark  upon  the  business  of  furnishing 
electricity  to  private  parties.  As  a  result,  in  many  directions 
electricity  has  not  been  introduced  as  rapidly  as  it  would  have 
been  introduced  if  the  cities  had  been  willing  to  grant  permis- 
sion to  private  companies  to  undertake  this  work.  Halle  is 
perhaps  a  good  example  of  this  fact.  Up  to  the  present,  elec- 
tricity has  not  found  that  wide,  extended  application  for  pur- 
poses of  lighting  and  power  in  the  city  of  Halle  which  one 
might  have  expected  from  the  rapidly  growing  industrial  charac- 
ter of  the  city.  The  city  has  refused  to  grant  permission  to 
private  companies  to  lay  their  wires  in  the  streets,  and  as  a 
result    electric    lighting    is    very   largely    limited    to    individual 


GAS  AND  ELECTRICITY  7  i 

plants  or  blocks  of  land  which  can  be  reached  from  all  parts 
without  making  use  of  public  highways.' 

The  general  introduction  of  the  Auer  burner,  spoken  of  above, 
has  tended  to  reconcile  the  people  to  the  lack  of  electricity  for 
lighting  purposes,  but  the  pressure  on  the  part  of  private  indi- 
viduals and  of  public  companies  for  a  supply  of  electricity 
finally  became  so  great  that  the  city  was  compelled  to  take  up 
a  definite  and  distinct  attitude  toward  this  problem.  The  feel- 
ing at  first  was  overwhelmingly  in  favor  of  granting  a  concession 
to  a  private  company  and  making  such  terms  for  the  grant  of 
the  franchise  as  the  city  might  be  able  to  do.  Various  com- 
missions w^ere  appointed.  Some  of  these  made  very  careful 
technical  examinations  with  the  aid  of  technical  experts.  Some 
of  them  visited  the  works  built  in  other  cities.  And  the  final 
outcome  of  the  whole  movement,  after  a  very  excited  and  in 
some  respects  bitter  discussion,  was  an  overwhelming  vote  in 
the  city  council  in  favor  of  public  construction,  ownership,  and 
management  of  an  electric  plant.  It  is  an  interesting  fact  that 
all  experts  consulted  by  the  city  council  or  its  committees,  who 
were  not  personally  connected  with  some  private  electric  com- 
pany, advised  the  city  by  all  means  to  install  its  own  electric 
plant,  to  construct,  own,  and  operate  it  on  its  own  account,  with- 
out recourse  to  the  medium  of  a  private  company. 

The  arguments  advanced  by  Professor  Karl  Schmidt,  of  the 
University  of  Halle,  in  favor  of  city  management,  were  convin- 
cing, and,  when  supported  by  the  opinion  of  Dr.  Klingcnbcrg,  of 
Berlin,  commanded  the  assent  of  the  city  authorities.  It  appears 
from  their  report  that  they  sent  a  schedule  of  questions  to  thirty- 
one  cities,  which  in  their  size  or  their  industrial  importance 
might  be  compared  with  Halle.  Of  twenty-nine  cities  from 
which  they  obtained  reports,  twenty-two  owned  their  own  elec- 
tric plants,  and  after  April  i,  1899,  nineteen  of  them  managed 

'  So  far  has  this  unwillingness  to  favor  electricity  gone  that  the  city  works  have 
uniformly  refused  to  give  the  lowest  rate  of  10  pfennigs  per  cubic  meter  to  consumers 
who  used  the  gas  to  drive  engines  for  the  manufacture  of  electricity  for  lighting  pur- 
poses, i.  e.,  they  refused  to  favor  their  competitors  in  the  business  of  furnishing  light, 
even  though  they  were  entitled  to  this  favor  under  the  general  rule. 


72  MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION  IN  GERMANY 

their  own  works  directly,  only  ten  out  of  the  twenty-nine  having 
intrusted  the  management  to  private  hands.  Cassel,  Elberfeld, 
and  Cologne  are  building  new  and  extensive  plants  at  their  own 
cost,  and  will  undertake  the  management  of  the  new  works.  It 
is  important  to  notice  that  these  cities,  at  a  time  when  it  is 
necessary  to  construct  entirely  new  plants,  have  decided  that 
they  would  construct  and  manage  them  themselves,  after  having 
had  an  experience  of  from  nine  to  twelve  years  with  the  older 
type  of  works.  The  statement  is  made  by  the  committee  which 
visited  these  various  plants  that  it  found  the  public  sentiment 
nearly  universal  that  a  city  like  Halle,  in  which  industry  has 
taken  on  such  an  enormous  expansion  of  late  years,  ought  not  to 
hesitate  a  moment  to  construct  and  manage  its  own  electric 
plant.  It  was  the  opinion  of  the  experts  without  exception  that 
the  construction  and  management  of  an  electric  plant  is  much 
simpler  than  the  construction  and  management  of  gas-works, 
and  that  where  a  city  has  successfully  performed  the  latter,  it 
may  without  doubt  do  the  former. 

It  will  be  of  interest  to  note  the  points  which  Professor 
Klingenberg  made  in  favor  of  public  works,  for  it  was  his  argu- 
ment which  finally  decided  the  question  in  favor  of  a  city  plant. 

He  called  attention  in  his  expert  report  to  the  fact  that 
experience  had  shown  ever  more  clearly  that  those  cities  which 
did  not  own  and  manage  their  own  gas-works  and  their  own 
water-works  were  at  a  great  disadvantage  as  compared  with 
those  cities  which  did  ;  and  in  his  opinion  the  same  thing  was 
true  now,  and  would  be  still  truer  in  the  future,  of  electric  plants. 

It  is  possible  that  a  city  may  make  an  agreement  with  a 
private  company  which,  for  the  immediate  present,  would  be 
satisfactory  and  fair  to  both  parties,  but  in  a  department  of 
industry  where  changes  are  so  rapid,  experience  has  shown 
that  it  is  extremely  difficult  for  a  city  to  change  its  contract 
with  a  private  company  in  such  a  way  as  to  be  of  advantage  to 
it.  It  must  nearly  always  pay  a  very  high  sum  for  the  privilege 
of  doing  so.  As  the  private  companies  are  thus  successful  in 
opposing   any  change  from   which   they  do   not   derive  the  very 


GAS  AND  ELECTRICITY  73 

highest  advantage,  the  city  is  practically  compelled  to  hand  over 
to  the  private  company  a  much  larger  proportion  of  the  returns 
than  would  otherwise  be  necessary.  He  called  attention  further 
to  the  fact  that  the  city  which  owns  gas-works  can  hardly  per- 
mit a  private  electric  company  to  come  in  and  compete  with  it,  as 
the  situation  would  become  practically  untenable  for  one  or  the 
other.  He  emphasizes,  moreover,  the  fact  of  the  great  advan- 
tage which  a  city  may  obtain  from  having  the  power  of  altering 
the  rates  in  accordance  with  its  general  industrial  and  social 
interests,  without  consulting  the  special  interests  of  a  private 
company.  He  is,  moreover,  of  the  opinion  that,  judging  from 
experience,  it  is  impossible  to  make  an  agreement  with  a  private 
company  by  which  the  works  can  be  kept  in  a  proper  condition, 
and  handed  over  to  the  city  at  the  expiration  of  a  lease  under 
conditions  which  will  be  reasonably  favorable. 

As  a  result  of  these  various  reports,  a  commission  worked  out 
an  estimate  of  the  cost  of  the  enterprise,  which  was  laid  before 
the  city  council  on  November  7,  1899.  The  proposition  called 
for  an  appropriation  of  2,600,000  marks  (^650, 000).  It  was 
approved  by  the  city  authorities,  and  a  public  loan  was  negoti- 
ated, at  the  rate  of  3^  per  cent.,  from  the  city  savings  bank. 

The  city  has  thus  begun  the  experiment  of  a  city  electric 
plant  to  furnish  light  and  power  for  illumination,  cooking,  heat- 
ing, and  driving  machinery.  The  experiment  is  likely  to  have 
far-reaching  results.  Already  the  city  authorities  are  working  out 
a  plan  of  assuming  the  entire  system  of  street  railways  in  the  city, 
which  was  built  by  private  companies  and  is  run  by  electricity. 
The  city  may  purchase  these  roads  under  the  terms  indicated  in 
the  contracts  between  the  private  companies  and  the  city,  and  it 
is  believed  that  a  favorable  opportunity  is  now  offered  of  man- 
aging them  at  a  reasonable  rate.  There  is  little  doubt  that  before 
long  the  entire  system  of  railways,  considerably  enlarged  and 
extended,  will  be  in  the  hands  of  the  city. 

What  the  practical  outcome  of  this  state  of  things  will  be  is, 
of  course,  something  for  the  future  to  decide.  But,  judging  from 
the  experience  of  the  city  administration  up  to  the  present  time, 


74  MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION  IN  GERMANY 

there  is  every  reason  to  anticipate  a  successful  result,  even 
though  it  may  not  in  all  respects  correspond  to  what  the  advo- 
cate of  private  ownership  would  claim  for  the  private  system. 
It  is  interesting  to  note,  by  the  way,  that  Halle  was  the  first  city 
in  Germany  to  introduce  a  system  of  electric  traction  in  its 
street-car  system  upon  a  large  scale.  It  is  extremely  well  pro- 
vided with  street-car  facilities,  as  such  cities  go  in  Germany. 
The  rates  are  low  and  the  service  satisfactory.  The  city  receives 
a  certain  proportion  of  the  net  profits  of  the  companies.  Whether 
it  would  make  a  better  bargain  with  private  companies  to  con- 
tinue the  present  system,  or  would  obtain  greater  profits  by 
undertaking  the  management  itself,  is  something,  of  course,  which 
at  the  present  writing  nobody  can  determine  ;  but  public  opinion 
is  drifting  rapidly  and  surely  to  the  side  of  public  ownership  and 
management. 

Since  writing  the  above,  the  whole  question  of  the  relation  of 
local  transportation  to  city  administration  in  Halle  has  entered 
a  new  stage.  The  owners  of  one  of  the  street-car  systems  have 
offered  to  sell  it  to  the  city,  and  it  seems  as  if  the  offer  would 
be  accepted.  A  careful  investigation  was  made  under  the 
supervision  of  the  administrative  board  into  the  expediency  of 
such  purchase.  The  director  of  the  city  electric  plant,  after 
going  into  a  detailed  consideration  of  the  probable  growth  of 
traffic,  the  value  of  the  existing  plant,  the  probable  value  of  the 
plant  which  the  city  would  receive  at  the  end  of  the  franchise 
under  the  existing  contract,  etc.,  recommended  that  the  city 
accept  the  offer,  though  he  was  obliged  to  confess  that  the  price 
asked  was  higher  than  the  real  present  value  as  tested  by  imme- 
diate earning  power. 

On  the  basis  of  this  and  other  reports,  the  administrative 
board,  by  a  unanimous  vote,  recommended  to  the  city  council, 
May  6,  1900,  that  the  offer  of  the  company  be  accepted,  and 
that  the  city  purchase  the  system  known  as  the  "  City  Railroad," 
comprising  some  seventeen  miles  of  track,  at  the  price  of 
$625,000,  or  somewhat  more  than  $36,000  a  mile. 

It   is  interesting  to   note   the   arguments  advanced   by   the 


GAS  AND  ELECTRICITY  75 

administrative  board  in  favor  of  the  proposed  action.  Tliree  con- 
siderations, they  declared,  had  led  them  to  this  conclusion.  In 
the  first  place,  they  did  not  wish  to  see  the  future  development 
of  one  of  the  most  important  means  of  communication  depend- 
ent any  longer  on  the  private  interests  of  a  corporation  managed 
primarily  for  profit.  In  the  second  place,  they  looked  upon  it  as 
a  function  of  municipal  administration  to  secure  for  the  city 
treasury  the  profits  of  flourishing  public  undertakings,  so  as  to 
prevent  the  necessity  of  an  ever-increasing  tax-rate.  In  the  third 
place,  they  saw  in  the  enlarged  system  a  very  important,  if 
not  absolutely  indispensable,  customer  for  the  products  of  the 
city  electric  plant,  thus  insuring  its  increasing  profit.  The 
further  consideration  should  not  be  overlooked  that  now  was  a 
favorable  time  to  buy.  The  road  had  just  reconstructed,  at  con- 
siderable expense,  a  large  part  of  its  plant,  which  was  now  in 
first-rate  condition.  It  had  also  extended  the  mileage  by  the 
construction  of  compulsory  lines,  which  had  not  yet  become 
profitable,  though  they  would  surely  become  so  in  a  short  time. 
The  result  of  these  large  expenditures  had  been  to  depress  the 
dividend  from  an  average  of  more  than  7  per  cent,  for  the  three 
preceding  years  to  4  per  cent.,  thus  making  the  company  willing 
to  take  less  than  it  would  in  a  year  or  two,  when  the  result  of 
these  new  extensions  would  show  itself  in  rising  dividends. 

It  is  evident  that  the  first  three  arguments  apply,  ceteris 
paribus,  in  other  cities  than  Halle,  and  thus  point  to  a  steadily 
growing  tendency  on  the  part  of  German  cities  to  assume  pro- 
vision of  means  of  local  transportation. 


CHAPTER  III. 
The  Water  Supply. 

In  no  department  of  municipal  administration  can  the  chang- 
ing ideals  and  advancing  standards  of  modern  society  be  more 
clearly  traced  than  in  that  of  the  supply  of  water.  The  modern 
conception  of  the  relation  of  an  abundant,  pure,  cheap,  and  con- 
venient supply  of  this  necessity  of  life  to  the  health,  comfort, 
and  industry  of  the  community  is  as  different  from  the  ideal  or 
practice  of  the  ancient  or  mediaeval  city  as  can  be  imagined. 
The  ancient  world  provided,  it  is  true,  in  many  instances,  a  most 
elaborate  and  abundant  supply  of  water  for  the  public  buildings, 
temples,  fountains,  and  public  baths  of  the  city ;  but,  so  far  as  is 
known,  no  such  city  conceived  the  idea  of  actually  putting  an 
adequate  supply  of  water  into  every  house  and  upon  the  floor  of 
every  house.  Nor  did  this  arise  simply  from  an  ignorance  of 
the  laws  of  hydraulics,  as  is  sometimes  asserted,  nor  from  an 
ignorance  of  how  to  make  pipes  capable  of  withstanding  great 
pressure.  It  was  the  natural  outcome  of  the  social  and  economic 
conditions  of  the  time.  In  a  society  based  on  slavery  there  was 
no  reason  why  the  labor-saving  devices  necessary  in  a  modern 
city  should  either  have  been  worked  out  or  applied.  The  slaves 
—  either  men  or  women  —  were  able  to  get  all  the  water  neces- 
sary for  domestic  consumption  at  public  or  private  wells  or 
fountains;  although  the  simple  burden  of  carrying  water  from 
the  points  where  it  was  provided  by  the  community  to  the  places 
where  it  was  needed  constituted  then,  as  it  would  now,  a  most 
serious  economic  waste. 

The  mediaeval  city  rarely  rose  to  the  conception  or  realization 
of  the  ancient  city.  The  people  contrived  to  get  along  with  a 
very  meager  water  supply,  drawn  from  rivers  polluted  by  the 
industrial  or  domestic  waste  of  the  inhabitants,  or  from  wells 
sunk  in  the  immediate  proximity  of  the  houses.     The  medieval 

76 


WATEH  SUPPLY  77 

man  or  woman,  as  tried  by  modern  standards,  was  not  a  cleanly 
person,  and  the  mediaeval  city  was,  generally  speaking,  a  cesspool 
of  undescribable  dirt  and  filth. 

It  was  reserved  for  the  modern  city  to  set  up  an  entirely  new 
standard  in  regard  to  the  water  supply — a  standard  which 
reflects  the  progress  which  the  modern  city  has  made  as  com- 
pared with  the  ancient  or  mediaeval,  while  it  has  been  one  of  the 
most  efficient  instrumentalities  in  this  progress  itself.  No  one 
who  has  not  taken  pains  to  examine  the  facts  relating  to  the  sub- 
ject has  any  adequate  conception  of  how  recent  this  whole  move- 
ment has  been.  It  dates  really  from  the  middle  of  the  last 
century.  In  fact,  one  may  say  that  the  full  acceptance  of  the 
modern  standards  dates  from  less  than  thirty  years  ago. 

We  can  see  in  the  history  of  the  water  supply  in  Halle,  for 
the  last  fifty  years,  a  reflection  of  the  whole  magnificent  develop- 
ment which  has  been  going  on  the  world  over.  The  large  may 
be  seen  in  the  small ;  the  cosmos  in  the  microcosmos. 

The  city  of  Halle,  being  situated  on  a  river  of  considerable 
size  which,  except  in  very  exceptional  cases,  was  supplied  during 
most  of  the  year  with  an  abundant  supply  of  water,  relied  natu- 
rally enough  in  large  part  upon  the  stream  for  the  supply  of 
water,  over  and  above  what  could  be  provided  for  by  local 
springs  or  by  wells  sunk  in  the  immediate  neighborhood  of  the 
houses  in  the  public  streets  or  squares. 

A  private  company  erected  a  plant  for  elevating  the  river 
water  to  a  height  from  which  it  would  flow  by  gravity  down  to 
certain  public  squares  as  early  as  1474.  A  second  plant  was 
erected  near  the  first  by  another  private  company  in  the  year 
1564.  A  continuous  conflict  between  these  two  undertakings 
led  the  city  to  buy  both  plants  in  1594,  and  from  that  time  to 
this  the  supply  of  water  through  a  system  of  pipes  has  been  con- 
sidered as  a  city  function.  At  various  times  private  individuals, 
or  companies,  laid  pipes  to  bring  into  the  city  spring  water  from 
the  surrounding  hills  ;  the  whole  supply  thus  furnished,  however, 
never  amounting  to  more  than  a  small  per  cent,  of  the  total  con- 
sumption.    Down  to  the  year  1867  the  water  supply  consisted 


78  MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION  IN  GERMANY 

aside  from  wells,  of  the  water  pumped  up  through  this  city  sys- 
tem directly  from  the  river,  without  filtration  or  subsidence,  and 
of  the  small  amount  —  about  5  per  cent,  of  the  total  supply  — 
furnished  by  other  systems  of  pipes. 

The  water-works  had  been  erected  at  a  point  below  the 
center  of  the  city  and  below  the  place  at  which  the  water  of  the 
river  had  begun  to  be  seriously  polluted  by  the  drainage  of  the 
streets,  houses,  and  mills.  The  quality  of  the  water  was  bad  to 
begin  with  in  the  fifteenth  century,  and  it  grew  steadily  worse 
down  to  the  middle  of  the  nineteenth.  Attempts  were  made 
to  improve  it  by  running  the  intake  pipe  along  the  bed  of  the 
river  up  to  a  point  where  the  water  was  of  better  quality  ;  but 
this  simply  palliated  the  evil  to  a  slight  extent. 

The  water  thus  supplied  was  carried  through  a  system  of 
pipes  into  the  public  squares  to  certain  public  fountains  and 
basins  and  into  cisterns  in  a  few  private  houses.  There  were 
only  134  such  individual  pipes  in  the  year  1867,  supplying  136 
houses  out  of  a  total  of  perhaps  2,000  in  the  city.  For  all  other 
houses  the  water  had  to  be  carried  from  the  public  hydrants  or 
cisterns  into  the  house.  The  flow  was  intermittent,  necessitating 
the  storing  of  water  in  cisterns  and  buckets,  or  barrels,  for  the 
hours  when  it  was  not  running  through  the  pipes.  It  was  cheap 
enough  in  one  sense,  as  no  charge  was  made  for  water  taken 
from  the  public  basins  or  cisterns ;  expensive,  of  course,  in 
another  sense,  owing  to  the  immense  labor  of  carrying  the  water 
into  the  houses,  to  say  nothing  of  up  the  three,  four,  or  five 
flights  of  stairs. 

The  water  supply  drawn  from  the  private  wells  was,  if  any- 
thing, worse  than  that  taken  from  the  river.  A  large  part  of 
the  city  was  built  upon  land  formerly  included  within  the  ceme- 
teries. Geologically  the  city  rests  upon  a  very  thin  layer  of 
soil,  underlaid  by  porphyry  or  sandstone,  covered  sometimes  by 
layers  of  clay,  varied  here  and  there  in  the  higher  portions  of 
the  city  by  deposits  of  brown  coal.  In  consequence  of  this 
condition  the  surface  water  cannot  sink  to  any  great  depth,  and 
finds  in  the  course  of  its  sinking   no  natural  filtration  ;    but,  on 


WATER  SUPPLY 


79 


the  contrary,  is  still  further  polluted  the  farther  it  sinks  into  the 
soil  by  the  very  composition  of  the  soil  itself,  and  further  by 
the  injurious  mineral  constituents  found  in  the  brown  coal.  The 
city  had,  moreover,  no  system  of  sewers,  but  relied  upon  badly 
constructed  and  badly  kept  cesspools  for  the  temporary  care  of 
domestic  and  industrial  waste.  This  meant  that  the  drippings 
of  the  leaky  cesspools  were  constantly  flowing  into  the  wells 
and  being  pumped  up  into  the  houses  for  drinking  and  washing 
purposes.  The  wells,  being  naturally  sunk  at  the  lowest  points  — 
often  in  the  bottom  of  cellars  under  the  houses — became  them- 
selves a  sort  of  cesspool.  They  became  reservoirs  of  the  bilge 
water  of  the  city,  which  was  thus  drunk  by  the  inhabitants  of 
the  city,  partly  undiluted,  partly  diluted  by  the  inflowing  of 
surface  water  only  a  little  less  dangerous.  The  wells  —  the 
source,  perhaps,  of  fully  one-half  the  supply  —  had  thus  become 
sources  of  poison  and  death,  instead  of  sources  of  life. 

That  under  these  conditions  the  city  of  Halle  should  have 
become  one  of  the  most  unhealthy  cities  of  Germany  is  not  to 
be  wondered  at.  It  achieved  a  most  unenviable  reputation,  even 
in  a  time  when  all  cities  were  hotbeds  of  disease  and  death.  It 
was  a  favorite  seat  of  epidemics  of  all  kinds,  while  the  death- 
rate  was  abnormally  high,  even  among  unhealthy  cities.  The 
death-rate  always  exceeded  the  birth-rate,  and  at  times  by  an 
enormous  percentage,  down  to  within  fifty  years.  Seven  cholera 
epidemics  visited  the  city  between  the  years  1830  and  1867. 
The  epidemic  of  1867 — just  before  the  introduction  of  the 
modern  water  supply  —  carried  off  2,000  people  out  of  a  total 
population  of  50,000;  whereas  in  1873,  when  other  cities  suf- 
fered, Halle  remained  almost  free — a  striking  testimonial  to  the 
value  of  a  proper  water  supply.  The  city  was  for  centuries  the 
favorite  abode  of  typhus,  dysentery,  diphtheria,  consumption, 
influenza,  smallpox,  etc. 

The  prevalence  of  those  diseases  whose  existence  is  favored 
by  a  bad  or  inadequate  water  supply  had  led  to  repeated  discus- 
sions as  to  the  possibility  of  making  improvements  in  this 
department  of  city  life.     But  each  attempt  failed,  owing  to  the 


8o  MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION  IN  GERMANY 

lethargy  of  the  public  and  the  unwillingness  of  the  city  author- 
ities to  make  the  necessary  financial  sacrifices.  The  cholera 
epidemics  of  1849  ^"^^  ^855  gave  a  new  impetus  to  the  rising 
tide  of  dissatisfaction  with  existing  conditions,  though  it  was 
not  until  the  latter  part  of  1863  that  the  city  council  finally 
decided  to  take  the  matter  up  in  earnest. 

On  the  recommendation  of  the  administrative  board,  it  pro- 
vided for  the  creation  of  a  joint  commission  which  was  to  inves- 
tigate the  whole  question  and  make  definite  recommendations. 
This  commission  began  its  sessions  in  February,  1864,  and  made 
its  report  on  May  23,  1867.  It  proposed  the  introduction  of  a 
modernized  water  supply  based  on  a  fundamental  change  in  the 
principles  thus  far  followed  by  the  city  in  its  administration  of 
this  department  of  city  affairs.  A  glance  at  some  of  the  more 
important  features  of  this  report  will  be  of  interest  as  showing 
how  clearly  the  general  principles  of  the  new  system  were  con- 
ceived, though  the  actual  application  of  them  left  much  to  be 
desired. 

After  calling  attention  to  the  vital  relation  of  potable  water 
to  public  health,  and  to  the  horrible  condition  existing  in 
Halle  at  the  time,  the  commission  emphasized  the  equally  great 
necessity  of  a  more  adequate  supply  for  purely  commercial 
reasons.  It  insisted  that  the  city  had  reached  the  limit  of 
growth  in  population  and  in  industry,  unless  a  new  and  more 
adequate  supply  of  water  could  be  found. 

A  careful  examination  of  the  qualities  necessary  to  a  good 
water  supply  for  domestic  and  industrial  purposes  was  followed 
by  a  long  series  of  experiments  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  city, 
resulting  in  finding  what  was  considered  an  ample  source  of 
good  water  in  a  series  of  gravel  beds  near  the  city,  in  which 
wells  were  to  be  sunk  from  which  the  water  was  to  be  pumped 
into  distributing  reservoirs. 

The  commission  insisted  that  the  city  should  give  up  entirely 
the  old  system  of  furnishing  free  water  at  public  hydrants  or 
public  basins,  and  replace  it  by  a  system  of  furnishing  water  at 
a  low  price  on   every   floor   of  each    house  in  the  city.     This 


WATER  SUPPLY  8 1 

system  would  involve  the  prohibition  of  the  use  of  existing 
wells,  and  the  compulsory  connection  of  all  houses  with  the  pipe 
system  of  the  city.  It  was  only  by  the  general  introduction  of 
the  city  water  into  the  apartments  of  the  great  mass  of  the 
people,  who  lived  naturally  on  the  highest  floors  of  the  houses, 
that  such  a  general  use  of  water  would  be  obtained  as  lay  in  the 
interest  of  the  public  health,  as  well  as  in  the  financial  interests 
of  the  water-works  themselves,  regarded  as  a  productive  under- 
taking. It  insisted,  moreover,  on  the  adoption  of  the  system  of 
continuous  delivery  through  the  pipes,  always  filled  at  a  steady 
pressure,  instead  of  the  old  intermittent  system  even  then  in  use 
in  many  of  the  large  European  cities,  notably  London,  by  which 
water  was  furnished  through  the  pipes  only  during  certain  hours 
of  the  day,  requiring,  therefore,  a  system  of  reservoirs  or 
cisterns  in  each  house  for  the  storage  of  water  —  an  incon- 
venient and  expensive  method. 

The  water  tariff  recommended  was  based  on  the  number  of 
rooms  in  the  dwelling,  rejecting  the  system  in  use  in  many  Euro- 
pean cities  of  basing  it  on  the  rental  value  of  the  premises,  as  in 
London  and  Berlin. 

The  report  contained  a  great  many  details  relating  to  the 
actual  introduction  of  the  system,  transitory  provisions,  etc., 
which  we  need  not  notice  further  here.  As  a  whole,  the  docu- 
ment may  be  considered  a  masterly  one,  and  the  policy  outlined, 
which  was  adopted  by  the  city  in  the  main,  marked  an  epoch  in 
the  history  of  the  city  and  set  an  example  for  other  cities  in 
Germany,  which  some  of  them  have  been  too  slow  to  follow. 

The  question  of  municipal  ownership  and  management  was 
disposed  of  in  a  brief  sentence  or  two  as  follows  : 

Certain  cities  have  entertained  the  opinion  that  they  should  on  principle 
grant  to  private  companies  the  right  to  construct  and  operate  public-service 
plants,  like  gas-  and  water-works.  They  have  become  thoroughly  convinced 
within  a  very  short  time  of  the  complete  erroneousness  of  such  a  view  and 
of  the  damage  they  have  thus  done  to  the  public  interests.  As  this  city  has 
carefully  avoided  such  a  policy  in  the  case  of  its  gas-works,  it  is  certain  that 
it  will  not  consider  such  a  proposition  in  regard  to  its  water  supply  —  a  far 
more  fundamental  necessity  of  life,  of  far  more  fundamental  importance  for 


82  MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION  IN  GERMANY 

public  welfare.  VVe  cannot  even  discuss  the  question  of  turning  over  a  plant 
of  this  sort  to  a  company  whose  chief  aim  is  not  the  public  good,  but  private 
profit. 

This  commission  urged  that  the  water-works  should  never  be 
regarded  as  a  source  of  net  profit  to  the  city,  but  that  all  earn- 
ings over  and  above  running  expenses,  and  the  usual  payments 
to  the  sinking  funds,  and  construction  and  extension  account, 
should  be  devoted  to  reducing  the  water-rates.  In  one  respect, 
the  calculations  of  the  commission  proved  to  be  very  inaccurate. 
It  had  estimated  that  a  supply  of  150,000  to  200,000  cu.  m.  per 
day  would  be  ample  for  many  years,  and  that  a  supply  of  250,- 
000  cu.  m.  would  be  sufificient  for  twenty-five  years  to  come. 
As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  consumption  reached  the  150,000  mark 
within  two  years,  the  200,000  mark  within  six  years,  and  the 
250,000  mark  within  ten  years,  and  in  a  little  more  than  twenty 
years  surpassed  360,000  cu.  m.  per  day.  And  that  in  spite  of 
the  fact  that  the  city  authorities  had  begun  to  discourage  the  too 
liberal  use  of  water  by  the  more  general  introduction  of  the 
water  meter.  This,  however,  has  been  the  common  experience 
wherever  a  liberal  supply  of  good  water  has  been  introduced. 
The  consumption  has  far  exceeded  the  estimates,  showing,  after 
all,  how  inadequate  the  conception  of  even  the  most  advanced 
thinkers  and  experts  as  to  the  willingness  and  eagerness  of  the 
people  to  avail  themselves  of  the  advantage  of  a  more  liberal 
supply  of  this  necessity  and  luxury  of  life. 

There  was  practically  no  use  of  water  made  at  first  for  flush- 
ing water-closets  or  sewers,  nor  for  bath-tubs  in  private  houses. 
And  even  now  the  sanitary  closet  and  stationary  bath-tub,  with 
their  liberal  use  of  water,  are  the  exception  in  the  houses  of 
even  the  better-situated  middle  classes.  With  every  passing 
year  the  use  of  these  modern  comforts  or  necessities  becomes 
more  general,  and  the  average  quantity  of  water  used  per  head 
and  day  tends  to  increase  in  a  more  rapid  ratio  than  the  popu- 
lation. The  rapidly  increasing  use  of  water  in  the  industries 
tends  to  bring  about  the  same  result,  though  in  some  cases  the 
industrial  plants  have  reached  such  a  size  that  they  find   it   of 


WATER  SUPPLY  83 

advantage  to  put  in  their  own  water  plants,  thus  decreasing  the 
demands  on  the  city  works. 

The  total  consumption  has  risen  from  1,100,000  cu.  m.  in 
1869,  the  first  full  year,  to  over  4,050,000  cu.  m.  in  1900.' 
This  has  necessitated  several  reconstructions  of  the  works, 
increase  of  collecting  plants  and  reservoirs,  and  additional  pur- 
chase of  land.  The  city  authorities  have  year  after  year  faced 
the  situation  of  having  in  some  way  to  discourage  the  rapidly 
increasing  use  of  water,  or  else  to  make  new  and  costly  exten- 
sions. The  actual  policy  adopted  has  been  a  sort  of  compro- 
mise. Extensions  have  been  made  to  provide  for  larger  supplies, 
but  greater  care  has  also  been  taken  to  prevent  waste,  and  the 
use  of  water  has  been  discouraged  to  some  extent  by  a  change 
in  the  system  of  water  charges.  The  average  rate  of  consump- 
tion per  head  and  per  day  was  63  liters  in  the  year  1869.  This 
rose  steadily  to  its  maximum  of  120  liters  in  1883,  ^"d  then 
gradually  fell  to  85  (90  quarts)  in  the  year  1899-1900 — the 
population  having  risen  from  50,000  to  a  little  over  130,000. 
It  will  be  seen  that  the  supply  is  still  far  from  being  a  liberal 
one  as  tested  by  the  prodigality  of  many  American  cities.^ 

As  noted  before,  the  steady  increase  in  the  demand  for  city 
water  had  forced  the  city  to  enlarge  its  water  farms  and  its  col- 
lecting plants,  as  well  as  its  reservoir  facilities.  Owing  to  the 
great  drafts  on  its  available  supply,  the  quality  of  the  water  had 
not  been  maintained.  The  presence  of  iron  in  considerable 
quantities  in  certain  of  its  wells  and  the  tendency  to  the  growth 
of  algae  in  the  pipes  occasioned  at  times  an  unpleasant  discolora- 
tion of  the  water.  After  many  attempts  to  grapple  with  the 
difficulty,  the  policy  was  adopted  of  de-ironizing  and  filtering  the 
entire  supply,  thus  making  it  as  pleasing  in  color  as  in  taste. 

The  course  of  development  in  the  water  policy  of  the  city 
may  be  traced  in  its  system  of  water-rates.  Prior  to  April  i, 
1886,   the  water    for    domestic    purposes  was   furnished   free  of 

'The  new  water  supply  was  first  turned  on  in  a  part  of  the  city  in  April,  1868, 
and  by  September  the  entire  city  had  been  supplied  with  it. 

*  Chicago,  600  quarts  ;  New  York,  484;  Scranton,  Pa.,  1,300. 


84  MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION  IN  GERMANY 

charge  to  all  houses  which  were  assessed  to  the  city  taxes. 
"Domestic  purposes"  included  drinking,  cooking,  washing, 
scrubbing,  flushing  the  floors,  bathing,  sprinkling  of  the  streets, 
and  sprinkling  of  the  courtyards.  All  the  water  used  for  other 
purposes  was  to  be  paid  for  at  the  rate  of  1 1  pfennigs  per  cubic 
meter ;  the  amount  being  measured  by  meter  or  estimated  at  a 
lump  sum.  The  city  paid  for  all  water  used  for  domestic  pur- 
poses out  of  the  city  treasury  at  about  one-half  the  rate  charged 
other  consumers.  There  were  discounts,  increasing  with  the 
amount  consumed. 

In  order  to  make  headway  against  the  rapidly  increasing  use 
of  water,  which  necessitated  the  continual  increase  of  the  city 
plant  at  an  increasing  cost,  the  city  authorities  adopted  a  new 
water  tariff,  going  into  effect  April  i,  1886.  According  to  this 
schedule,  water  was  to  be  delivered  free  of  charge,  up  to  25 
liters  per  day  and  per  occupant,  for  domestic  purposes  in  the 
above  sense  to  all  houses,  subject  to  municipal  taxes.  All 
water  in  excess  of  this  amount  was  to  be  paid  for  at  the  rate  of 
12  pfennigs  per  cubic  meter,  instead  of  11.  The  city  could  at 
any  time  put  in  a  meter  to  test  whether  the  water  consumed  in 
any  house  exceeded  the  25  liter  maximum.  The  city  paid  for 
the  water  furnished  free  for  domestic  purposes,  as  before,  at 
about  one-half  rates.  This  increase  in  the  price  of  over  9  per 
cent.,  and  the  more  general  introduction  of  the  meter,  produced 
a  marked  effect  at  first  in  the  consumption  of  water.  The  total 
consumption  decreased  during  the  year  1886-87  by  about  9  per 
cent.,  as  compared  with  the  preceding  year,  while  the  average 
income  per  cubic  meter  rose  by  1.28  pfennigs.  The  more  gen- 
eral introduction  of  the  meter  led  to  the  discovery  of  leaks  in 
the  pipes,  by  remedying  which  much  waste  was  prevented,  and 
the  diminished  demands  on  the  sources  of  supply  improved  the 
quality  of  the  water.  The  sum  paid  out  of  the  city  treasury  for 
domestic  water  diminished  by  fully  15  per  cent.  The  total 
consumption,  which  had  reached  its  maximum  of  over  3,400,000 
cu.  m.  in  1884-85,  fell  off  to  less  than  3,000,000  cu.  m.  in 
1886-87. 


WATER  SUPPLY  85 

This  effect  was,  however,  only  temporary,  the  consumption 
rising  rapidly  again  to  over  3,600,000  cu.  m.  in  1891-92.  The 
result  was  another  agitation  for  the  general  introduction  of  the 
meter,  accompanied  with  an  increased  price  to  provide  against 
the  time  when  new  and  extraordinary  expenses  must  be  incurred 
for  extension  of  the  plant.  These  deliberations  extended  over 
a  year  or  two,  and  received  in  the  meantime  an  entirely  new 
turn  by  the  passage  of  the  General  Municipal  Revenue  Act  of 
July  14,  1893.  This  law  prescribed  that  cities  should  so  manage 
all  industrial  undertakings  in  their  care  that  they  should  defray 
their  own  expenses,  including  running  expenses,  interest,  and 
sinking  funds,  in  such  a  way  that  they  should  not  be  in  any 
respect,  or  to  any  extent,  a  charge  on  the  city  treasury.  This 
provision  put  an  end  to  the  policy  of  the  city,  pursued  since  the 
beginning,  of  furnishing  water  for  domestic  purposes  free  to 
private  individuals  at  the  cost  of  the  city  treasury.  As  the  city, 
being  thus  b)^  far  the  largest  purchaser,  had  been  in  the  habit  of 
paying  from  25  per  cent,  to  50  per  cent,  of  the  total  expense  of 
the  works,  it  was  evident  that  an  entirely  new  system  of  finance 
would  have  to  be  adopted.  The  water-works  commission  elabo- 
rated a  scheme  which  was  recommended  to  the  city  authorities. 
It  embraced  three  features  : 

1.  No  water  to  be  furnished  free,  and  all  to  be  sold  through 
meters. 

2.  Uniform  price  of  12  pfennigs  per  cubic  meters. 

3.  No  charge  for  meter  rent  to  private  houses  subject  to  city 
taxes. 

The  city  tax  commission  worked  out  an  entirely  different 
plan,  which  was  subsequently  adopted.  This  method  included 
the  following  provisions  : 

1.  All  houses  should  be  supplied  with  meters. 

2.  For  a  supply  of  25  liters  per  day  and  per  person  a  water 
tax  was  to  be  collected  from  the  occupants  of  each  house  equal 
to  2  per  cent,  of  the  rental  value  of  the  dwellings. 

3.  All  water  in  excess  of  this  amount  to  be  paid  for  at  the 
rate  of  16  pfennigs  per  cubic  meter  by  the  house-owner,  except 


86  MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION  IN  GERMANY 

that  water  used  in  the  manufacture  of  beer  shall  be  sold  at  the 
price  of  12  pfennigs  per  cubic  meter. 

It  will  be  seen  that  here  is  an  attempt  to  shift  the  charge  for 
water  from  the  landlord  to  the  tenants.  This  schedule  remained 
in  force,  however,  only  two  years,  as  the  dissatisfaction  was  too 
great.  A  new  regulation  went  into  effect  April  i,  1897,  which 
simplified  matters  very  much.  It  prescribed  a  single  uniform 
rate  of  16  pfennigs  per  cubic  meter  as  ascertained  by  the  meter, 
which  was  prescribed  in  all  cases,  the  fee  to  be  collected  from 
the  landlord,  who  is  made  responsible  to  the  city  in  all  cases, 
though  he  may  make  such  contracts  with  his  tenants  in  regard 
to  the  matter  as  he  may  be  able. 

It  will  be  seen  that  this  constituted  a  real  increase  in  the 
price  of  water,  even  over  the  system  in  vogue  in  the  immedi- 
ately preceding  years.  The  change  made  in  1895  amounted  to 
a  real  increase  in  the  rates  of  over  30  per  cent.  The  average 
income  of  the  water-works  per  cubic  meter  was  11.62  pfennigs 
in  1894-95  and  15.32  in  1895-96,  or  nearly  32  per  cent,  increase. 
The  result  of  this  great  increase  in  the  rates  has  been  to  convert 
the  water-works  into  a  profit-producing  branch  of  the  city  admin- 
istration. Prior  to  1895-96  they  appeared  in  the  budget  as  a  source 
of  outlay,  and  since  that  time  as  a  fruitful  source  of  income. 

In  comparing  the  figures  as  to  use  of  water  in  Halle  and  in 
an  American  city  we  must  keep  the  following  facts  in  mind  : 
In  the  first  place,  the  system  of  water-closets,  now  almost 
universal  in  the  large  American  cities,  has  not  been  as  yet  exten- 
sively employed  in  Halle.  The  system  of  city  sewers  is  con- 
structed primarily  to  carry  off  the  surface  rain  water,  the 
domestic  kitchen  water,  and  the  waste  water  from  factories. 
The  privies,  or  closets,  for  fecal  matter  are  not  connected  with 
the  sewers  as  a  rule.  Direct  connection  is,  indeed,  forbidden  by 
police  regulations.  Even  where  the  water-closet  is  in  use,  the 
matter  must  flow  first  into  a  cesspool,  which  is  so  arranged  that 
the  solid  matter  is  deposited,  the  water  only  being  allowed  to 
flow  off  into  the  sewers.  But,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  the  dry  closet 
is  the  one  chiefly  in  use  in  the  city.     On  March   31,  1900,  there 


WATER  SUPPLY  87 

were  in  the  city  7,224  water-closets,  the  population  being  in 
round  numbers  130,000,  or  one  to  every  eighteen  inhabitants, 
or,  taking  five  as  the  average  number  in  a  family,  one  to  every 
three  and  a  half  families.  The  style  of  building  in  Halle  is  that 
of  large  houses  containing  many  apartments  and  flats.  It  was 
estimated  that  of  the  5,082  residence  houses  in  the  city  in  the 
year  1899  about  1,144  —  less  than  one-fourth  —  were  equipped 
with  water-closets,  and  these  only  with  the  indirect  connection 
with  the  sewer.  This  means,  of  course,  a  comparatively  slight 
use  of  water  for  this  purpose,  which  constitutes  a  considerable 
drain  on  the  water  supply  in  our  American  cities.  The  number 
of  such  water-closets  has  been,  however,  increasing  very  rapidly 
of  late  years.  The  following  table  shows  the  increase  for  the 
last  twelve  years  : 

1888      -    -    -      1,648 

1891      -    -    -      3,924 

1893     -    -    -      4.565 

1895      -    -    -      5.253 

1897      -    -    -      5,897 

1899  -    -    -     6,865 

1900  -    -    -      7,224 

The  same  thing  may  be  said  of  the  use  of  bath-rooms  in  pri- 
vate houses.  In  1900  the  number  of  bath-tubs  connected  with 
the  water  pipes  was  only  2,447,  and  probably  out  of  the  more 
than  5,000  residence  houses,  containing  over  30,000  dwellings, 
not  more  than  1,000  houses  at  the  outside,  and  far  less  than  one- 
tenth  of  the  dwellings,  had  any  arrangements  for  bathing  at  all, 
except  the  old-fashioned  Sitzbad,  or  movable  tub.  It  is  plain 
that  only  a  fraction  of  the  amount  of  water  is  used  in  such  a 
city  as  in  a  corresponding  American  one  for  a  similar  purpose. 
The  number  of  bathing  connections  has  been  likewise  rapidly 
increasing.     There  were 

756  in  the  year  1888 

1,496  in  the  year  1892 

1,565  in  the  year  1894 

1,862  in  the  year  1896 

2,249  in  the  year  1899 

2,447  i"  the  year  1900 


88  MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION  IN  GERMANY 

There  are  almost  no  stationary  wash-tubs,  equipped  with  hot 
and  cold  water,  in  the  average  dwelling,  and  the  liberal  use  of 
water  connected  with  such  devices  is  notable  by  its  absence. 

The  number  of  dwellings  in  the  city  increased  from  25,056 
in  1894  to  30,244  in  1900,  an  increase  of  nearly  21  per  cent.; 
while  the  number  of  water-closets  had  increased  over  58  per 
cent.,  and  the  bath  connections  over  56  per  cent. 

The  city  is  now  preparing  to  introduce  a  modern  system  of 
drainage,  which  will  doubtless  be  based  on  the  "everything-into- 
the-sewer"  plan  in  such  general  use  in  this  country. 

The  financial  management  of  the  water-works  has  been 
admirable,  and  the  reports  show  the  income  and  expenditures  in 
such  a  way  as  to  enable  one  to  trace  out  satisfactorily  the  finan- 
cial development  of  the  enterprise  from  the  first.  It  does  not 
appear,  however,  from  the  reports  of  the  department  itself  just 
how  much  the  city  has  had  to  pay  year  by  year  on  account  of 
water  furnished  free.  This  is  stated  in  the  budget  account  of 
the  city. 

The  department  has  been  charged  with  everything  assigned 
to  it  from  the  first  by  the  city.  The  first  plant  was  created  on 
land  owned  by  the  city,  but  the  department  was  obliged  to  pay 
for  it  exactly  as  if  it  had  had  to  purchase  it  from  private  parties. 
All  extensions  of  plants  have  been  defrayed  out  of  current  earn- 
ings or  from  loans,  the  interest  and  amortisation  of  which  the 
department  has  to  meet  from  its  own  income.  No  allowance 
seems  to  have  been  made  in  the  accounts  for  taxes  which  a  pri- 
vate company  would  have  had  to  pay  the  city,  or  for  the  value 
of  the  franchise  which  might  have  been  exacted  from  such  a 
company.  One  cannot  ascertain,  therefore,  from  the  reports 
themselves  whether  city  management  has  been  more  or  less 
profitable  to  the  city  treasury  than  private  management  would 
have  been. 

The  estimate  of  present  value  seems  to  be  quite  within  the 
mark.  Deductions  for  depreciations  seem  to  be  very  liberal, 
running  all  the  way  from  i  per  cent,  on  the  value  of  the  real  estate, 
to   20  per  cent,  on   the  value  of  water   meters,  and  averaging 


WATER  SUPPLY  89 

about  25  per  cent,  of  the  total  income.  The  total  value  of  the 
plant  March  31,  1900,  was  given  at  2,877,194.43  marks,  which 
is  supposed  to  be  a  fair  cost  value  for  the  plant  such  as  a  private 
company  would  offer,  not  counting  the  value  of  the  franchise. 
As  a  matter  of  fact,  it  is  probably  much  lower  than  the  cost  of 
duplication.  Against  this,  however,  is  to  be  set  off  a  debt  of 
2,082,000  marks,  and  other  items,  leaving,  when  deducted,  the 
net  cash  value  of  the  plant  to  the  city  at  the  present  time  of 
592,897  marks.  The  report  for  1 899-1900  shows  that  after 
paying  all  running  expenses,  after  meeting  all  charges  for  inter- 
est and  sinking  fund,  after  setting  aside  a  liberal  sum  for 
depreciation  and  for  a  renewal  fund,  the  works  yielded  a  net 
return  of  over  153,343  marks,  suflficient  to  pay  a'  5  per  cent, 
dividend  on  a  capital  of  3,066,850  marks.  This  equals  a  divi- 
dend on  the  actual  cash  value  of  the  plant  over  and  above  all 
indebtedness  of  over  25  per  cent.  Of  this  sum  130,000  marks 
were  paid  as  net  profits  into  the  city  treasury,  and  23,343  added 
to  the  reserve  fund. 

A  charge  has  always  been  made,  until  recently,  for  the  use  of 
meters,  which  has  constituted  a  considerable  addition  to  the  cost 
of  water  to  the  small  consumer.  In  the  case  of  new  streets,  laid 
out  by  real-estate  speculators,  the  cost  of  extending  the  water 
main  to  the  houses  in  such  street  has  been  assessed  against  the 
person  laying  out  the  street.  In  the  year  1898  a  new  plan  was 
adopted.  The  full  cost  is  assessed  in  the  first  instance  now,  as 
formerly,  against  the  undertaker.  As  soon,  however,  as  the  total 
water-rates  collected  for  such  houses  amount  in  any  one  year  to 
one-third  of  the  cost  of  such  extension,  the  city  water-works 
will  then  reimburse  the  builders  for  such  outlay.  From  such 
total  outlay,  however,  will  be  deducted  each  year  for  deteriora- 
tion yy^  per  cent,  of  the  amount. 

The  city  has  steadily  increased  its  outlay  for  water  for  public 
purposes,  such  as  fountains,  public  comfort  stations,  street 
sprinkling,  etc.  For  all  such  water  it  must  pay  the  water-works 
department  at  the  same  rate  as  other  consumers. 

It  is  plain  from   the  above  account  that,  while  the   city  of 


90  MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION  IN  GERMANY 

Halle  has  not  been  notable  for  absolutely  new  departures  in  the 
policy  relating  to  the  water  supply,  it  has  at  least  entered  the  list 
of  modern  cities,  and  has  kept  pace  with  the  most  advanced  of 
European  cities  of  its  size  in  this  regard  ;  not  only  managing  its 
affairs  in  a  sound  manner  from  a  business  point  of  view,  but 
showing  an  ever-increasing  appreciation  of  the  social  and  indus- 
trial aspects  of  the  problem. 


APPENDIX. 

Note  on  the  Cemeteries. 
The  question  of  the  proper  relation  of  a  municipal  adminis- 
tration to  the  disposal  of  the  dead  is  an  important  one.  Euro- 
pean cities  have  taken,  on  the  whole,  a  very  different  attitude 
toward  this  question  from  American  cities.  They  have  evidently 
regarded  it  as  not  only  a  proper,  but  necessary  function  of  the 
city,  not  merely  to  provide  facilities  for  the  sanitary  disposal  of 
dead  bodies,  but  also  for  their  interment  in  a  manner  corre- 
sponding with  the  prevailing  ideas  of  decency  and  propriety  in 
the  community,  and  also  at  charges  which  shall  be  within  the 
reach  of  even  the  poorest  members  of  the  same.  This  seems,  at 
any  rate,  to  have  been  the  idea  underlying  the  policy  of  the  city 
of  Halle  toward  the  cemetery  system,  if  one  may  be  entitled  to 
make  such  inference  from  the  actual  policy  adopted  by  the  city 
in  this  regard.  The  city  owns  at  present  three  large  cemeteries 
—  one  in  the  heart  of  the  city,  and  two  at  the  northern  and 
southern  extremities,  respectively.  The  cemetery  in  the  heart 
of  the  city  is  now  practically  closed  to  further  interments,  except 
those  from  families  who  own  hereditary  lots  in  the  cemetery, 
ownership  to  which  is  not  granted  in  fee  simple,  but  only  for  the 
period  of  one  hundred  years,  or,  rather,  until  1983,  beyond  which 
time  no  further  concessions  can  be  granted.  The  management  of 
these  cemeteries  is  most  methodical.  In  the  old  city  cemetery, 
which  is  one  of  the  most  picturesque  in  Europe,  the  outer  wall 
is  lined  with  a  series  of  grave  lots  covered  with  arched  roofs, 
very  similar  to  those  which  one  often  sees  in  Italy.  These  lots 
are  family  concessions,  conceded  for  a  period  of  one  hundred 
years,  reverting  to  the  city  when  the  family  dies  out,  or  when- 
ever the  lots  are  habitually  neglected,  or  the  persons  responsible 
therefor  fail  to  pay  the  annual  tax  of  S2.50.  Another  portion 
of  the  cemetery  is  assigned  to  the  so-called  hereditary  grave 
lots,  7  feet  by  3  feet.     These  may  be  obtained  likewise  until  the 

91 


92  MUNICIPAL  ADMINISTRATION  IN  GERMANS 

year  1983  for  sums  varying  from  200  to  600  marks  ($50  to 
Si 50).  They  revert  also  to  the  city  when  the  parties  cease  to 
care  for  them.  A  number  of  such  lots  may  be  taken  together  so 
as  to  provide  for  a  family  burial  lot,  but  each  lot  must  be  regis- 
tered and  paid  for  separately. 

The  same  arrangement  is  made  in  the  other  two  cemeteries, 
and,  in  addition,  further  facilities  for  burial  are  provided  for  par- 
ties who  do  not  wish  to  purchase  hereditary  grave  lots  in  the  fol- 
lowing way  :  Most  of  the  cemetery  is  divided  into  the  so-called 
row-grave  tracts,  the  grave  lots  being  numbered  consecutively  and 
to  be  used  in  order.  These  lots  are  conceded  or  leased  for  the 
term  of  twenty  years ;  after  which  they  revert  to  the  city  and 
may  be  sold  again  either  to  the  same  party  or  to  others  for  fresh 
interments.  For  burial  in  these  row  graves  the  fee  exacted 
varies  with  the  ability  of  the  person  to  pay,  as  shown  by  his 
assessment  to  the  income  tax,  and  ranging  from  75  cents  for 
persons  assessed  to  the  income  tax  at  a  lower  rate  than  $225  up 
to  $7.50  for  persons  having  an  income  of  $1,500  a  year  and 
over.     The  fees  for  paupers  are  paid  by  the  city. 

By  the  use  of  this  device  it  is  possible  to  utilize  the  cemetery 
over  and  over  again  for  interments  at  periods  of  twenty  years. 
In  some  other  cemeteries  in  Germany  this  period  is  considerably 
shortened,  being  reduced  in  some  places  to  five  years.  This  cus- 
tom, which  is  so  repulsive  to  American  ideas,  is  a  necessary  one, 
and  naturally  incident  to  a  country  of  crowded  population. 

The  city  provides,  for  those  who  choose  to  use  them,  a  sys- 
tem of  funeral  services,  including  all  costs  from  the  time  of 
transferring  the  body  from  the  residence  to  the  mortuary  chapel, 
up  to  the  final  burial.  These  charges  are  also  fixed  by  city 
ordinances,  and  on  a  graded  scale,  corresponding  to  the  expense 
which  the  survivors  are  able  or  willing  to  incur.  The  charge 
for  the  hearse  is  also  based  on  the  income  of  the  parties,  as 
shown  by  the  income  tax,  and  varies  from  $1.25  to  S6.  The 
charge  for  carriages  is  likewise  fixed  by  ordinance,  varying 
from  62^  cents  for  one-horse  cabs  to  $1.25  for  two-horse  cabs. 
People  dying  within  the  district  assigned  to  a  certain  cemetery 


APPENDIX 


93 


must  be  buried  there,  unless  they  own  hereditary  lots  in  anothe.- 
cemetery,  or  unless  permission  is  obtained  from  the  city  authori- 
ties. The  Jewish  congregation  in  the  city  has  a  cemetery  of  its 
own.  An  indication  of  the  close  relation  between  the  state  and 
religion  is  found  in  the  fact  that  no  address  may  be  made  in  the 
cemetery  in  connection  with  the  funeral  services  by  any  layman 
except  with  the  consent  of  the  clergyman  having  jurisdiction. 

The  city  accepts  sums  of  money  as  trust  funds  from  which 
the  expense  of  caring  for  the  graves,  etc.,  may  be  defrayed. 

The  privilege  of  furnishing  hearses  and  carriages  at  the 
regular  tariff  fixed  by  the  city  is  leased  to  a  private  individual, 
who,  in  return  for  the  privilege,  must  pay  to  the  cemetery  fund 
10  per  cent,  of  his  gross  income  and  at  least  1,000  marks  per 
year.  It  is  an  interesting  social  fact  to  note  that  in  1 899-1900, 
of  the  315  occasions  when  a  hearse  was  employed  in  connection 
with  funerals,  51  belonged  to  the  first  class,  191  to  the  second, 
28  to  the  third,  and  45  to  the  fourth. 

The  city  received  three  additional  cemeteries  in  the  annexed 
districts,  which  have  become  a  part  of  the  city  since  April  i,  1900, 
although  two  are  so  located  that  new  interments  will  have  to  be 
prohibited  before  long  and  new  locations  will  have  to  be  provided. 

The  management  of  these  cemeteries  is  intrusted  to  a  perma- 
nent deputation  or  joint  commission  of  the  administrative  board 
and  the  city  council,  consisting  of  six  members  —  two  from  the 
administrative  board  and  four  from  the  city  council.  This  com- 
mission is  expected  to  administer  the  cemeteries  in  such  a  way 
that  they  will  pay  for  themselves,  and  not  be  a  charge  on  the 
general  revenue  of  the  city;  nor  does  the  city,  on  the  other  hand, 
expect  a  net  revenue  from  the  management  of  the  cemeteries. 

It  will  be  seen  from  a  study  of  the  above  facts  that  an  effort  is 
made  on  the  part  of  the  city  administration  to  provide  facilities 
for  decent  burial  at  moderate  rates.  In  this  policy  the  city 
seems  to  be  following  a  line  of  development,  which  has  taken 
place  naturally  and  easily,  growing  out  of  historic  conditions, 
rather  than  anything  which  has  been  adopted  as  a  result  of  con- 
scious reflection  or  thought. 


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